LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf............ 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



DEC 14 18^ 



HELPS BY THE WAY 



COMPILED BY 
S. W. W. AND M. S. H. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

REV. PHILLIPS BROOKS, D. D. 




op ) ( 



BOSTON 
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 

FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS 



The Library 
of Congress 

washington 



"5 V>s/o 

. W 5 

19*5 



Copyright, 1886, 
by 

D. Lothrop & Company. 



INTRODUCTION. 



HIS little Book speaks for itself and hardly 



•A. needs an introduction, and yet it may 
not seem unsuitable that one who has been inter- 
ested in its compilation should say a few words 
about its purpose and idea. 

Some books are teachers, and come to us with 
systematic and well ordered truth ; other books 
are friends and bring to us suggestions. We 
recognize at once the difference between the 
teacher and the friend. The two characters may 
be united in one man and yet they are separate 
when in our thought. We value the teacher for 
his truth ; we value the friend for his personality. 

The books which come to us as friends have 
something which is almost personality for us. 




3 



4 



INTRODUCTION. 



We almost know their faces — we have almost 
heard the sound of their voices and felt the pres- 
sure of their hands. 

And the most notable quality of such books is 
their suggestiveness. They bring their thought 
and give it to us not as men bring their treasures 
to a warehouse, laying them down there upon the 
floor as on a foreign, unrelated substance, but 
as you bring the spark of fire to a pile of wood 
which has within itself the power of burning and 
turning into fire. It is not the fullness of their 
hands which makes them welcome. It is the 
delicacy and discrimination of the finger which 
they lay upon some spring in us and set some of 
our nature free. 

This book, I fancy, aspires to be the friend of 
men and women, and so it must be judged by its 
suggestiveness. If it does what it hopes to do, it 
will show that it has the qualities which belong 
to all suggestive men and things ; it will illustrate 
anew the essential nature of suggestiveness which 
is always interesting. 



INTRODUCTION. 



5 



Let me mention two or three truths which are 
involved in the very fact that there are suggestive 
books and men — books and men at whose touch 
human natures start into life and thought which 
often far outgoes the book or man that touched 
them. 

1. First, it implies a human nature full of 
mysterious and rich resources. You think that 
you have made a full survey of your own life and 
have an inventory of your possible powers, when 
sometime the wise word of a sage or of a child 
falls on you and some spring flies back, some 
door flies open, and you are thinking in new direc- 
tions, living another life which you have never 
thought that you could live. Whenever that has 
once happened to a man, he always must think of 
himself expectantly and reverently, not knowing 
what other yet unopened chambers there may be 
in his life. 

2. Again, suggestive ness in books and men, 
with the corresponding power of receiving sug- 
gestions in the men whom they touch, involves 



6 



INTRODUCTION. 



the thoughts of how our endlessly various lives 
have a unity with one another in virtue of their 
power of responding to the same great simple 
influences. Some suggestive word out of this 
book will fall upon a score of lives some morning 
and will touch the key of each. Each will be 
better for it, but how differently. One will do 
better trading ; another will do better teaching ; 
another's household life will be more pure and 
lofty. The fire falls upon a hundred substances 
and each burns with the same fire, but with its own 
color. What could more illustrate how we are 
one beneath our differences than the sight of a 
single text or verse inspiring many different lives 
to be their best. 

3. And as it displays the unity between differ- 
ent lives, so it brings out also the fact that each 
life is a unity when it is touched by and responds 
to some suggestive power. The engine seems a 
thousand things until the living steam is poured 
in upon it, and then it moves all together and 
shows that it is one thing. 



II <•■-..■■■', 

! • 

INTRODUCTION. J 

You let the power of some fiery word in upon 
your life, and the grosser portions of you respond, 
and show that they are parts of the same nature 
with your finest feeling. Your morning prayer, 
your early greeting of your best friend, the single 
sentence from a glowing page fills the whole day 
with life. The drudgery of the hot noontime and 
the weary afternoon is fresher for it. The most 
mechanical occupations feel its power. The first 
dream in the new house colors all the hard experi- 
ence which is to follow. And the pervading 
inspiration makes the whole life one. 

4. This book provides for every day a text 
from Holy Scripture, and a few words from some 
English prose writer and a short piece of poetry. 
It is a good arrangement, in which each part has 
its meaning. The Bible is the oracle of souls. 
It is to countless men and women in some true 
sense the word of God, not to be reasoned with 
and questioned, but to be accepted with docility 
and faith. But the wise words of other literature 
are the utterances of thoughtful friends which we 



8 



INTRODUCTION. 



freely question and discuss, often loving them for 
the spirit which they show, and the thought which 
they awaken, while we do not accept what they de- 
clare as truth. Meanwhile the poet has his own dif- 
ferent value, opening glimpses of the soul of things 
and bidding us see how the special rests upon the 
universal, and the temporal on the eternal. In 
each of these three attitudes it is good for man to 
stand — in docility before a divine oracle, in seri- 
ous discussion with a thoughtful friend, in spiritual 
readiness for the touch of genius. In all these 
ways the soul of man is fed. Shut either of these 
doors, and the soul of man is robbed and darkened. 
The book which opens all these doors and brings 
suggestiveness on every side, must scatter slumber, 
and win true gratitude from many who receive its 
blessing. 

Phillips Brooks. 



JANUARY. 



1. Repair the house of your God from year to year. 
- — 2 Chron. xxiv. 5. 

" It is thus each year of life comes to us — for each day 
a clean, white page ; and we are artists whose duty it is to 
put something beautiful on the pages one by one ; or we are 
historians, and must give to the page some record of work 
or duty or victory to enshrine and carry away." 

" Swift years, but teach me how to bear, 
To feel and act with strength and skill, 

To reason wisely, nobly dare, 

And speed your courses as ye will." 

2. We have done that which was our duty to do. — 
Luke xxvii. 10. 

Duty is measured by chance, and yet the essential idea of 
duty is never weakened. I am bound to do less than you, 
but I am just as surely bound to do my little as you are to 
do your much. 

Phillips Brooks. 

What thou hast in store 
This coming year, I do not stop to ask ; 

Enough if day by day there dawns before 
Me my appointed task. 

I seek not great things, 
For I have learned how vain such seeking is ; 

But let me seek Thy will, O King of kings, 
And find therein my bliss. 

O. E. Fuller. 



12 



JANUARY. 



3. We are the clay, and Thou our potter. — Isaiah 
hriv. 8. 

The great Creator who gave us the rocks and the flowers 
that grow thereon, the rugged iron and the beauteous gem, 
He knows that each soul needs full development — the 
flower and the gem, the rock and the iron — or the whole 
being is incomplete. 

Yes, the new days come, and the old days go, 

And I the while rejoice, 
For now 'tis the rose, and now 'tis the snow, 

And now a sweet bird voice ; 
And now 'tis the heart of all that is sweet, 

And then the shade of care — 
And then 'tis a pain like the lightning fleet, 
And then God's glory there. 

W. Brunton. 

4. The inward man is renewed day by day. — 2 Cor. 
iv. 16. 

" An element of weakness in much of our resolving is, 
that we try to grasp too much of life at one time. We 
think of it as a whole instead of taking the days one by one. 
Life is a mosaic, and each tiny piece must be cut and set 
with skill." 

I think not of to-morrow, 

Its trial or its task ; 
But still with childlike spirit, 

For present mercies ask. 
With each returning morning, 

I cast old things away; 
Life's journey lies before me — 

My prayer is for to-day. 



JANUARY. 



13 



5. Time and chance happeneth to them all. — EccL ix. 2. 
The loss of time is the most hopeless and absolute loss 

we can sustain. Fortune may return after having taken 
her flight. But our hurried years can never come back to 
us from the grave. . . . There is but one point at 
which time is entirely in our power, and in submission to 
our will. That is at its beginnings. 

S. P. Herron. 
" Time was, is past ; thou canst not it recall. 
Time is, thou hast ; employ the portion small. 
Time future, is not, and may never be : 
Time present is the only time for thee." 

6. That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be 
able to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. 
— Eph. iii. 17, 18, 19. 

You must love, in order to understand love. One act of 
charity will teach us more of the love of God than a thou- 
sand sermons. One act of unselfishness, of real self-denial, 
will tell us more of the meaning of the Epiphany than 
whole volumes on theology. 

F. W. Robertson. 

To the giver shall be given ; 
If thou wouldst walk in light 
Make other spirits bright; 

Who, seeking for himself alone, ever entered heaven? 
In blessings we are blest, 
In labor find our rest ; 

If we bend not to the world's work, heart and hand and 
brain, 

We have lived our life in vain. 

C. Seymour. 



14 



JANUARY. 



7. I remembered Thy name, O Lord, in the night. — 
Ps. cxix. 55. 

No pilgrim is without his night season 

Trust God in the dark. This is the highest effort and 
triumph of faith. "Whether it be the darkness engendered 
by bodily affliction or by inward trouble — physical, intel- 
lectual or spiritual. . . . Pray on, trust on, believe on, 
hope on, and the still small voice will in due time come. 

J. R. Macduff. 

" What need of faith, if all were visibly clear ? 

'Tis for the trial time that this was given. 
Though clouds be thick, the sun is just as near, 

And faith will find Him in the heart of heaven." 

8. Be thankful unto Him, and bless his name. — Ps. 
c. 4. 

We talk about the telescope of faith, but I think we 
want even more the microscope of watchful and grateful 
love. Apply this to the little bits of our daily lives, and 
how wonderfully they come out. 

Frances Ridley Havergal. 

I pray for love ; 

Deep love to God and man ; 
A love that will not fail, 

However dark His plan. 
That sees all life in Him, 

Rejoicing in His power; 
And faithful, though the darkest clouds 

Of gloom and doubt may lower. 

Ednah Cheney. 



JANUARY. 



9. Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, 
deceiving your own selves. — James i. 22. 

Let us bring our Christianity down from the upper 
chambers of the intellect, where we have stored it, that it 
may come into life afresh. , . . Let our belief in 
Christ make us Christians. S. A. Smith. 

Be what thou seemest ; live thy creed, 
Hold up to earth the torch divine ; 

Be what thou prayest to be made ; 
Let the great Master's steps be thine. 

Horatio Bonar. 

10. But when they in their trouble did turn unto the 
Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them* 
— 2 Chron. xv. 4. 

There are no times in life when opportunity, the chance 
to be and to do, gather so richly about the soul as when it 
has to suffer. Then everything depends upon whether the 
man turns to the lower or the higher helps. . . . If he 
turns to God, the hour of suffering is the turning hour of 
his life. 

Phillips Brooks. 

Noble souls, through dust and heat, 
Rise from disaster and defeat 

The stronger, 
And conscious still of the divine 
Within them lie on earth supine 

No longer. 

Longfellow. 



i6 



JANUARY. 



11. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least 
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. — Matt. 
xxv. 40. 

I see in this world two heaps — one of human happiness 
and one of misery ; now if I can take but the smallest bit 
from the second heap, and add it to the first, I carry a point. 
If, as I go home, a child has dropped a half-penny, and by 
giving it another I can wipe away its tears, I feel that I 
have done something. 

John Newton. 

" Patience ! O questioning, wavering heart ! 
Good cheer and glad courage be thine ! 
The cup of cold water bestowed in His name, 
Is sweeter than sacrifice, fairer than fame, 
And the service itself is divine." 

12. I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord. — 
Isa. lxiii. 7. 

As jewels are treasured in the casket, to be brought 
forth on great occasions, so we should preserve the remem- 
brance of our joys, and keep them for seasons when spe- 
cial consolations are wanted to cheer the soul. 

Jane Kirkpatrick. 

Forget not all the sunshine of the way 
By which the Lord hath led thee — answered prayers, 
And joys unasked, strange blessings, lifted cares, 
Grand promise echoes ! Thus each page shall be 
A record of God's love and faithfulness to thee. 

. Frances Ridley Havergal. 



JANUARY. 



17 



I 3- J ua *ge this rather, that no man put a stumbling- 
block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. — Rom. 
xiv. 13. 

The whole creation is following my life, is involved in 
my triumph. . . . Every little calumny or temptation 
I overcome, every weakness I uproot, brightens the future 
of the world. Frederick Brooks. 

Not to ourselves are we living ; 

Not to ourselves do we die ; 
Freely receiving as giving, 

Soul after soul marches by — 
Parts of one mighty procession 

Stretching from Eden's first dawn 
On through large curves of progression, 

Till in the future it's gone, 
Gone from earth's ken, past heat, past breath, 
Into the life that is miscalled death. 

W. M. L. Jay. 
14. Not with eye service, as men-pleasers ; but as the 
servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 
— Eph. vi. 6. 

" The brave man, in his own soul, will always try him- 
self by the pure eyes and perfect witness of the all-judging 
God. 

In all God's diadem 

No star shines brighter than the kingly man, 
Who nobly earns whatever crown he wears, 

Who grandly conquers, or as grandly dies ; 
And the white banner of his manhood bears 

Through all the years uplifted to the skies. 

Julia C. R. Dorr. 



i8 



JANUARY. 



15. What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole 
world, and lose his own soul ? — Matt. xvi. 26. 

Honor the soul. Truth is the beginning of all good ; 
and the greatest of all evils is self-love ; and the worst 
penalty of evil doing is to grow into likeness with the bad ; 
for each man's soul changes, according to the nature of 
his deeds, for better or for worse. 

Plato. 

Man is his own star ; and the soul that can 
Render an honest and a perfect man, 
Commands all light, all influence, all fate; 
Nothing to him falls early or too late. 
Our acts our angels are ; or good or ill, 
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still. 

Beaumont and Fletcher. 

16. Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace. — * 
Job xxii. 21. 

" Nothing doth so establish the soul, amidst the rolling 
and turbulency of present things, as to both look above 
them and beyond them ; above them to the steady and 
good hand by which they are ruled ; and beyond them to 
the sweet and beautiful home to which by that hand we 
may be brought." 

Life's sorrows still fluctuate : God's love does not, 
And His love is unchanged when it changes our lot. 
Looking up to this light which is common to all, 
And down to those shadows on each side that fall 
In Time's silent aisle, so various for each, 
Is it nothing to know that they never can reach 
So far but that light lies beyond them forever ? 

Owen Meredith. 



JANUARY. 



19 



17. Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest. — 
Micah ii. 10. 

Make use of time, if thou lovest eternity ; know, yester- 
day cannot be recalled, to-morrow cannot be assured ; 
to-day only is thine ; one to-day is worth two to-morrows. 

Enchiridion. 

Rise, for the day is passing, 
And you lie dreaming on ; 
The others have buckled their armor, 
And forth to fight have gone ; 
A place in the ranks awaits you, 
Each man has some part to play ; 
The past and the future are nothing 
In the face of the stern to-day. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 

18. I will hold thy hand, and will keep thee. — Isa. xlii. 6. 
We talk about God's remembering us, as if it were a 

special effort. But if we could only know how truly we 
belong to God, it would be different. God's remembrance 
of us is the natural claiming of our life by Him as true 
part of His own. Phillips Brooks. 

He doth give His joy to all, 
He becomes an infant small, 
He becomes a man of woe, 
He doth feel the sorrow too. 
Think not thou canst sigh a sigh, 
And thy Maker is not nigh ; 
Think not thou canst weep a tear, 
And thy Maker is not near. 

Blake. 



20 



JANUARY. 



19. Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. — 
Rro. xix. 6. 

Oh ! that cheerful, childlike trust which believes that 
whatever storms shake earth or heaven, the everlasting 
pillars are not shaken. N. A. Staples. 

Yet thou canst not know 

And yet thou canst not see ; 

Wisdom and sight are slow 

In poor humanity. 

If thou couldst trust, poor soul, 

In Him who rules the whole, 

Thou wouldst find peace and rest : 

Wisdom and sight are well, but trust is best. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 

20. Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the 
Lord thy God. — Dent. xv. 5. 

" Inside this half-finished house we are to live in, the 
Divine Architect has placed his working model, in accord- 
ance with which we are to carry on the building This 

spirit which takes its stand by truth and righteousness, and 
ever urges the lower nature to higher and better things, 
this is to be the inspirer and regulator of our lives." 
Sculptors of life are we, as we stand 

With our souls uncarved before us, 
Waiting the hour when at God's command 

Our life dream passes o'er us. 
If we carve it yet on the yielding stone, 

With many a sharp incision, 
Its heavenly beauty shall be our own, 
Our lives — that angel vision. 

Bishop Doane. 



JANUARY. 



21 



21. Being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the 
work. — James i. 25. 

Every man can help on the world's work more than he 
knows of. What we want is the single eye, that we may 
see what our work is, the humility to accept it, however 
lowly, the faith to do it for God, the perseverance to go on 
till death. 

Norman McLeod. 
Here give me, Lord, some quiet place 
Where I can work, and yet behold thy face ; 
While Thou wouldst have me stay, 
Keep my feet steadfast in thy way ; 
They must not tire, 

Till Thou shalt bid me "Come up higher 1" 

E. J. A. 

22. I labored more abundantly than they all : yet not I, 
but the grace of God which was with me. — 1 Cor. xv. 10. 

It is every man's duty to discipline and guide himself 
with God's help. . . . Guided by the good example 
and good works of others, we must yet rely mainly upon 
our own efforts. 

Samuel Smiles. 
Art thou down ? Low down ? 
In the desecrating dust, 
Without a prop to aid thee 
Or a friend in whom to trust ? 
Trust to thyself, forlorn one, 
Stand upright on the sod, 
And asking help from no man, 
Secure the help of God. 

Charles Mackay. 



22 



JANUARY. 



23. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. — Matt. xv. 28. 

" There is dew in one flower and not in another, because 
one opens its cup and takes it in, while the other closes 
itself and the drops run off. God rains His goodness and 
mercy as wide-spread as the dew, and if we lack them, it is 
because we will not open our hearts to receive them." 

" Even as thou wilt, so be it unto thee. 
Thy heart the measure of the grace shall be 
From my rich store supplied. 

" She had the thing she would — 
Lord, if I dip my cup into the sea, 
It rises full. Such cup each soul may be, 
Such ocean is Thy good." 

24. Therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide 
me. — Ps. xxxi. 3. 

To follow God's guidance is to attain to true peace. 
Whatever faults cling to us through our lives are chiefly 
due to our self-will taking the government of our lives into 
its hands. As you increase in years, it will be a joy to be 
conscious that you have endeavored, however feebly, to 
walk with God. 

T. D. Woolsey. 

" Yet more and more this truth doth shine, 

From failure and from loss, 
The will that runs transverse to Thine 
Doth thereby make its cross : 
Thine upright will 
Cuts straight and still 
Through pride and dream and dross." 



JANUARY. 



23 



25. As ye have therefore received Jesus Christ, so 
walk ye in him. — Col. ii. 6. 

" Every time the thought of Christ puts from us one 
temptation, every time an impure thought is suppressed by 
the thought of His purity, . . . every time some self- 
indulgence is put aside by the thought of His self-denial, 
the very life of God gains depth and power in our souls." 
" The cloud which nearest to the moon doth lie, 
Shineth the brightest in the midnight sky ; 
The pathway of that Christian is most bright 
Which cleaveth closest unto Christ the Light." 

26. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the 
heart. — Ps. xix. 8. 

Details may perplex our faith, but the grand whole does 
not. For the harmonies of things appear as we explore. 
Order in the calyx of the violet and in the bosom of the 
sun. Order everywhere, and law ; and that law benefi- 
cence, securing harmony and peace, and working out stead- 
ily great ends. 

E. H. Chapin. 
" Still we study, always failing ! 
God can read it, we must wait ; 
Wait, until He teach the mystery, 
Then the wisdom-woven history 
Faith shall read, and love translate. 

" Leaflets now unpaged and scattered 
Time's great library receives ; 
When eternity shall bind them, 
Golden volumes we shall find them, 
God's light falling on the leaves." 



24 



JANUARY. 



27. That I might live unto God. — Gal. ii. 19. 

" God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is 
not the choice. You must take it. The only choice is, 
how. 11 

Who is the angel that cometh ? 
Life! 

Let us not question what he brings, 

Peace or strife, 
Under the shade of his mighty wings. 
We will arise arid go forth to greet him, 
Singing gladly, with one accord, 
" Blessed is he that cometh 
In the name of the Lord." 

Adelaide A. Procter. 

28. I am not alone, because the Father is with me. — 
John xvi. 32. 

It is not difficult to get away into retirement, and there 
live upon your own convictions ; nor is it difficult to mix 
with men and follow their convictions ; but to enter into 
the world, and there live firmly and fearlessly according to 
your own conscience, that is Christian greatness. 

F. W. Robertson. 

But more than sympathy, the truth I prize ; 
Above my friendships hold I God ; 



So let my banner be again unfurled, 
Again its cheerless motto seen, 
" The world against me, I against the world." 
Judge thou, dear Christ, between. 

Athanasius Contra Mundum. 



! 



JANUARY. 25 

29. Our Father which art in heaven. — Matt. vi. 9. 

Christianity reaches down from heaven this golden 
ladder by which the loftiest soul and the lowliest intellect 
can begin to climb toward God — the ladder of the truth 
of God's paternity. E. H. Chapin. 

" Dear name that binds us to the Infinite, 
That grants us heirship to a grander life. 

It holds us safe, even while we whisper it, 
And hushes into peace all sense of strife. 

Our Father cares for us, O restful thought — 

O breath of balm, with heavenly healing fraught/' 

30. The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard 
seed. . . . which indeed is the least of all seeds ; but 
when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs. — Matt, 
xiii. 31, 32. 

Cast forth thy act, thy word, into the ever-living, ever- 
working universe ; it is a seed grain that cannot die ; 
unnoticed to-day, it will be found flourishing as a banyan 
grove, perhaps, alas ! as a hemlock forest — after a thou- 
sand years. Carlyle. 

" Nothing is lost ; the tiniest seed, 
By wild birds borne, or breezes blown, 

Finds something suited to its need, 
Wherein 'tis sown and grown. 

" So with our deeds ; for good or ill, 

They have their power, scarce understood. 

Then let us use our better will 
To make them rife with good." 



26 



JANUARY. 



31. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
knowledge of God. — Rom. xi. 33. 

Where we are ignorant, God is wise ; where we stand 
blindly in the dark, He is in the light ; where we wonder, 
He calmly knows. Phillips Brooks. 

" Great our need, but greater far 
Is our Father's loving power ; 
He upholds each mighty star, 
He unfolds each tiny flower. 

" Ask not how, but trust Him still, 
Ask not when, but wait His will, 
Simply on His word rely, 
God shall all your need supply." 



FEBRUARY. 



1. As thy days, so shall thy strength be.— Deut xxxiii. 
25. 

No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is 
when to-morrow's burden is added to the burden of to-day, 
that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load 
yourselves so. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least 
remember this ; it is your doing, not God's. He begs you 
to leave the future to Him and mind the present. 

Geo. MacDonald. 
Bear the burden of the present — 

Let the morrow bear its own ; 
If the morning sky be pleasant 
Why the coming night bemoan ? 

Grief, nor pain, nor any sorrow 
Rends thy heart to Him unknown, 

He to-day, and He to-morrow 
Grace sufficient gives His own. 

Thos. MacKellan. 

2. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous 
things out of thy law. — Ps. cxix. 18. 

Only he who in his heart is conscious of the grace of 
God, perceives that the world also is full of the wonders 
of His grace. O with what entirely new eyes is the book 
of nature now read. Everywhere it speaks of God. 
If God thy inmost thought and being share, 
The universe becomes thy book of prayer. 

Tholuck. 

Thou who hast given me eyes to see 

And love this sight so fair, 
Give me a heart to find out Thee, 

And read Thee everywhere. 

27 Keble. 



28 



FEBRUARY. 



3. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. 
— Eph. iv. 1. 

" We have one thing and only one to do here on earth — 
to win the character of heaven before we die." 

" The openings of the streets of heaven are on earth." 

" All things of use are bridges that conduct 

To things of faith, which give them truest worth, 

And Christ's own parables do us instruct 
That Heaven is but the counterpart of earth. 

" Then let us, passing o'er Life's fragile arch, 

Regard it as a means, and not an end ; 
As but the path of faith on which we march 

To where all glories of our being tend." 

4. Unto the pure all things are pure ; but unto them 
that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. — Titus 
i. 15. 

The soul spreads its own hue over everything ; the 
shroud or wedding garment of nature is woven in the loom 
of our own feelings. Be noble-minded, and all Nature 
replies — I am divine, the child of God — be thou, too, 
His child, and noble. Be mean, and all Nature dwindles 
into a contemptible smallness. F. W. Robertson. 

We make the light through which we see 

The light, and make the dark ; 
To hear the lark sing, we must be 

At heaven's gate with the lark. 

Alice Cary. 



FEBRUARY. 



2 9 



5. Thou hast put gladness in my heart. — Ps. iv. 7. 

" If you have any regard for that invitation and com- 
mand which nature and creation are uttering day by day, 
and night by night, cultivate a spirit of cheerfulness." 
" Serve God and be cheerful." Make brighter 

The brightness that falls to your lot : 
The rare or the daily sent blessing 

Profane not with gloom and with doubt. 

Serve God and be cheerful. The winter 

Rolls round to the beautiful spring, 
And o'er the grim grave of the snowdrift 

The nest-building robins will sing. 

Wm. Newell. 

6. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made 
myself servant unto all. — 1. Cor. ix. 19. 

Others are affected by what I ain and say and do. And 
these others have also their sphere of influence. So that 
a single act of mine may spread in widening circles through 
a nation or humanity. W. E. Channing. 

May I reach 

That purest heaven — be to other souls 
The cup of strength in some great agony, 
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, 
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty. 
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, 
And in diffusion ever more intense ! 
So shall I join the choir invisible, 
Whose music is the gladness of the world. 

George Eliot. 



FEBRUARY. 



*7. To every man his work. — Mark xiii. 34. 

God will not call you to account for the four or five 
talents you have not received, but He will ask a strict 
account for that one which He has entrusted to you, and 
which is your special grace. Guillore. 

" All cannot charge or lead the van, 

All can be brave and true ; 
And where the Captain's standards wave 

There's work for all to do ; 
And work from which thou may'st not flee, 
Which must be done, and done by thee." 

8. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. — 
Prov. xviii. 21. 

What more passing than words ? A breath ! What very, 
very few words of ours rest with us. We forget them as 
soon as spoken ; God does not forget them. They do 
God's work, or Satan's work on others ; they pass in act ; 
they abide in effect. Dr. Pusey. 

Words are mighty, words are living, 

Serpents with their venomous stings, 
Or bright angels, crowding round us, 

With heaven's light upon their wings ; 
Every word has its own spirit, 

True or false, that never dies ; 
Every word man's lips have uttered 
1 Echoes in God's skies. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 



FEBRUARY. 



31 



9. Glory, honor and peace to every man that worketh 
good. — Rom. ii. 10. 

Remember the power of indirect influences ; those which 
distil from a life, not from a sudden, brilliant effort. The 
former never fail ; the latter often. There is good done of 
which we can never predicate the when or where. It lies 
in the invisible influence on character which He alone can 
read who counted the seven thousand nameless ones in 
Israel. F. W. Robertson. 

" The good we hoped to gain has failed us — well, 
We do not see the ending ; and the boon 

"May wait us down the ages — who can tell ? 
And bless us amply soon. 

In God's eternal plan, a month, a year, 
Is but an hour of some slow April day, 

Holding the germs of what we hope and fear 
To blossom far away." 

10. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. 
—A. v. 3. 

I would ever awake with God ; my first thoughts are 
for Him who hath made the night for rest, and the day 
for travail, and hath blessed both; If my heart be early 
seasoned with His presence, it will savor of Him all the 
day. Bishop Hall. 

Come, my soul, thou must be waking. 
Now is breaking 

O'er the earth another day ; 
Come to Him who made this splendor, 
See thou render 

All thy feeble powers can pay. 



3 2 



FEBRUARY. 



11. Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the 
proud, and giveth grace to the humble. — I. Peter v. 5. 

God protecteth the humble and delivereth him; the 
humble he loveth and comforteth ; unto the humble man 
he inclineth himself ; unto the humble he giveth great 
grace ; and after his humiliation he raiseth him to glory. 

A Kempis. 

I have but thee, O Father ! Let thy spirit 
Be with me then, to comfort and uphold; 

No gate of pearl, no branch of palm I merit, 
Nor street of shining gold. 

Suffice it if my good and ill unreckoned, 
And both forgiven through thy abounding grace, 

I find myself by hands familiar beckoned 
Unto my fitting place. 

J. G. Whittier. 

12. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained 
the promise. — Heb. vi. 15. 

To be silent, to suffer, to pray when we cannot act, is 
acceptable to God. A disappointment, a contradiction, a 
harsh word received and endured as in his presence, is 
worth more than a long prayer. 

Fenelon. 

'Tis well in deeds of good, though small, to thrive ; 

'Tis well some part of ill, though small to cure ; 
'Tis well with onward, upward hope to strive ; 

'Tis better and diviner to endure. 

MlLNES. 



FEBRUARY. 



33 



13. I will arise, and go to my father. — Luke xv. 18. 

Be humble for the past, trust Him for the future. Think 
of thy former backslidings and tremble; think of His 
promised grace, and take courage. 

J. R. McDuff. 

Hast thou wandered far 

From thy Father's happy home, 
With thyself and God at war ? 

Turn thee, brother, homeward come. 

Hast thou wasted all the powers 

God for noble uses gave ? 
Squandered life's most golden hours ? 

Turn thee, brother, God can save. 

He can heal thy bitterest wound, 
He thy gentlest prayer can hear ; 

Seek Him, for He may be found ; 
Call upon Him ; He is near. 

J. F. Clarke. 

14. Judge not according to the appearance. — John vii. 
24. 

" Whatever evil our neighbors suffer themselves to do, 
we can never know how much they are tempted to do 
which they effectually restrain. Could we know all that 
is resisted and all that is overcome .... we should 
often have to admire the virtue rather than condemn the 
fault." 

" Where we see but the darkness of the mine, 
God sees the diamond shine. 
" Where we our voice in condemnation raise, 
God may see fit to praise." 



34 



FEBRUARY. 



1 5. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the 
Spirit which he hath given us. — 1 John iii. 24. 

" What a joy to know that of all things and all thoughts 
God is nearest to us — so near that we cannot see Him, 
but far beyond seeing Him, can know of Him infinitely." 

Full of rest the western breeze 

Makes its music through the trees ; 

Thou canst feel its breathing warm, 

But thine eyes behold no form. 

In thine inner consciousness 
Thou canst feel the sweet caress 
Of thy Maker's constant care. 
Shalt thou doubt because thine eyes 
View no splendid vision rise 
Glorifying all the air ? 

E. W. Shurtleff. 

16. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like 
men, be strong. — 1 Cor. xvi. 13. 

" It is our chief difficulty about the formation of Chris- 
tian character, that we do not give enough time to it. We 
do not make it sufficiently one continual work through our 
whole life. . • . We never outgrow the need of watchful- 
ness till we come to the measure of the stature of the full- 
ness of Christ." 

Let no man think that sudden, in a minute, 
All is accomplished, and the work is done. 

Though with thine earliest dawn thou shouldst begin it, 
Scarce were it ended in thy setting sun. 

F. W. H. Myers. 



FEBRUARY. 



35 



17. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him 
only shalt thou serve. — Matt. iv. 10. 

There is one wish ruling over all mankind, and it is a 
wish which is never in any single instance granted — each 
man wishes to be his own master. It is a boy's beatific 
vision, and it remains the grown-up man's ruling passion 
to the last. But the fact is, life is a service ; the only ques- 
tion is, whom will we serve ? F. W. Faber. 

" None e'er shall lack a service, 

Who only seek His will ; 
And He doth teach His children 

To suffer and be still. 
In love's deep fount of treasures 

Such precious things are stored, 
Laid up for you, O blessed, 

Who wait upon the Lord." 

18. And be ye kind one to another. — Eph. iv. 32. 

When the hour of trouble comes to the mind or the 
body, or when the hour of death comes, that comes to high 
and low, then it is not what we have done for ourselves, 
but what we have done for others, that we think on most 
pleasantly. Sir Walter Scott. 

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making every- 
thing in its vicinity to freshen into smiles. 

Irving. 

That best portion of a good man's life, 
His little, nameless, unremembered acts 
Of kindness and of love. 

Wordsworth. 



36 



FEBRUARY. 



19. We also are compassed about with so great a cloud 
of witnesses. — Heb. xii. 1. 

If we are with the right and for it, though all the world 
have gone over to the other side, the long line of ancestral 
and glorified men are behind us, and breathing upon us, 
troops of beautiful, tall angels to enshield us from all 
wrong. E. H. Sears. 

Still through the cloven skies they come 

With peaceful wings unfurled, 
And still their heavenly music floats 

O'er all the weary world ; 
Above its sad and lonely plains 

They bend on hovering wing, 
And ever o'er its Babel sounds 

The blessed angels sing. 

E. H. Sears. 

20. I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith 
to be content. — Phil. iv. 2. 

"Do not offer to God a spirit dreaming of the great 
things you could do, or may do at some other time, but 
offer to Him your wakeful, rejoicing, present energies." 

Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident ; 

It is the very place God meant for thee, 

And should thou there small scope for action see, 

Do not for this give room to discontent, 

Nor let the time thou owest to God, be spent 

In idly dreaming how thou mightest be 

In what concerns thy spiritual life, more free 

From inward hindrance or impediment. 

R. C. Trench. 



FEBRUARY. 



37 



21. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou 
doest. — 3 John 5, 

" Though man can never attain to perfection, he will 
always be in a condition, if so disposed, to make con- 
tinual advances toward it. His rule should be always to 
do his best ; but his best of to-day is a better best than 
that of yesterday." 

" With a high and holy purpose 

Doing all thou hast to do ; 
Seeking ever man's upraising 

With the highest end in view. 

" Undepressed by seeming failure, 

Undated by success ; 
Heights attained, revealing higher, 

Onward, upward, ever press." 

22. Doing the will of God from the heart. — Eph. vi. 6. 

In all the difficulties and crosses of my life, this is my 
consideration, since it is God's will, I do not only obey, 
but assent to it ; nor do I comply out of necessity, but from 
choice. Seneca. 
My God, my Father, while I stray 
Far from my home, in life's rough way, 
Oh teach me from my heart to say 
" Thy will be done." 

Renew my will from day to day ; 
Blend it with Thine, and take away 
All that now makes it hard to say 
" Thy will be done." 

Charlotte Elliot. 



33 



FEBRUARY. 



23. If a man die, shall he live again ? — Job. xiv. 14. 

It is a strange fact that the human mind has always held 
to the immortality of the soul, and yet has always doubted 
it. . . . Were the belief not true, the doubt would long 
since have vanquished it, for nothing but truth can endure 
constant questioning. Theodore Hunger. 

Hearken ! Hearken ! 
God speaketh in thy soul ; 
Saying, O thou that movest 
With feeble steps across this earth of mine, 
To break beside the fount thy golden bowl, 
And spill its purple wine, 
Look up to heaven and see how like a scroll 
My right hand hath thy immortality 
In an eternal grasping. Mrs. Browning. 

24. Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in Him ; 
and He shall bring it to pass. — Ps. xxxvii. 5. 

Only let the soul believe that God has a plan for human- 
ity, and it can work in peace. It has the great support, 
then, of a faith that there is a Being who sees deeper, 
wider, farther, than the wisest mortal eye, and that there is 
a heart filled with an ocean of goodness, that will yet im- 
merse humanity. T. Starr King. 

Through every web of life the dark threads run. 

Oh, why and whither ? God knows all ; 
I only know that He is good, 

And that whatever may befall 
Or here or there, must be the best that could. 

J. G. Whittier. 



FEBRUARY. 



39 



25. And the men did the work faithfully. — 2 Chron. 
xxxiv. 12. 

" We miss the best chances for doing good by fixing 
dates. The commonest days may be made immortal to us 
and to others by fidelity to every passing moment." 

" Who's seen my day ? 

'Tis gone away, 

Nor left a trace 

In any place. 

If I could only find 

Its footfalls in some mind, 

Some spirit nature stirred 

By deed of mind or word, 

I should not stand at shadowy eve, 

And for my day so grieve and grieve." 

26. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, 
to all that call upon him in truth. — Ps. cxlv. 18. 

Though we do but lisp, even though we address God 
without opening our lips, we may cry to Him from the in- 
most recesses of the heart. When the whole direction of 
the inmost soul is toward God, he always hears. 

Clement of Alexandria. 

" He whom thou servest, slights 

Not even His weakest one ; 
No deed, though poor, shall be forgot, 

However feebly done. 

" The prayer, the wish, the thought, 

The faintly spoken word, 
The plan that seemed to come to naught, 

Each has its own reward." 



* 



40 



FEBRUARY. 



27. The Lord will give strength unto his people. — Ps. 
xxix. 11. 

" We grow able to do and bear that which it is needful 
we should do and bear. I have no fear for the Christian 
man who keeps to the path of duty. Straining up the 
steep hill, his heart will grow stout just in proportion to 
its steepness." 

Though days to come may often be 
With burdens crowded full for me ; 
Though hope deferred may cast a shade 
Across my spirit, undismayed 
I'll meet them one by one, for through 
Such days he brought me hitherto. 

M. E. Sangster. 

28. Till we all come . . . into the measure of the 
stature of the fulness of Christ. — Eph. iv. 13. 

" Coming nearer and nearer to Christ," we say ; that 
does not mean creeping into a refuge where we can be 
safe. It means becoming better and better men ; repeat- 
ing His character more and more in ours. The only true 
danger is sin, and so the only true safety is holiness. 

Phillips Brooks. 
To do Thy will is more than praise, 

As words are less than deeds ; 
And simple trust can find thy ways 

We miss with chart of creeds. 
Our Friend, our Brother, and our Lord, 

What may thy service be ? 
Nor name, nor form, nor ritual word, 
But simply following thee. 

J. G. Whittier. 



FEBRUARY. 



41 



29. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have en- 
tered into the heart of man, the things which God hath 
prepared for them that love him. — - 1 Cor. ii. 9. 

Progress is our being's motto and hope. Gaining and 
losing in this world, rising and falling, enjoying and suffer- 
ing, are but the incidents of life. Learning, aspiration, 
progress, is the life of life. Onward, then, pilgrims, to 
eternity. Dr. Dewey. 

Eye hath not seen, ear heard, or heart conceived, 
What God for those who love Him hath prepared ; 

Let us the steep ascent then boldly climb, 
Our toil and labor will be well repaid ; 

Let us haste onward till in God's good time 
We reap the fruit, a crown that doth not fade. 

Spitta. 



MARCH. 



1. For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. — Heb. 
xiii. 16. 

For every progress in strenuous work for God, there 
must have been a slaying of the selfishness which urges us 
to work in our own strength and for our own sake. 

F. D. Huntington. 

" When my love for Christ grows weak, 

When for stronger faith I seek, 

Hill of Calvary, I go 

To thy scenes of fear and woe : 

Then to life I turn again, 

Learning all the worth of pain, 

Learning all the might that lies 

In a full self-sacrifice." 

2. My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of 
the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living 
God. — Ps. lxxxiv. 2. 

It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing 
while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things 
we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after 
them. George Eliot. 

Still, through our paltry stir and strife, 

Glows down the wished Ideal, 
And Longing moulds in clay what Life 

Carves in the marble Real ; 
To let the new life in, we know 
Desire must ope the portal ; 
Perhaps the longing to be so 

Helps make the soul immortal. Lowell. 



MARCH. 



43 



3. Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as 
a little child, he shall not enter therein. — Mark x. 1 5. 

The truly great man is he who does not lose his child 
heart. He does not think beforehand that his words shall 
be sincere, nor that his actions shall be resolute : he simply 
always abides in the right. Mencius : Chinese. 

Quiet, Lord, my froward heart ; 

Make me teachable and mild, 
Upright, simple, free from art ; 

Make me as a little child ; 
From distrust and envy free, 

Pleased with all that pleases Thee. 

Newton. 

4. Behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 
— Ex. xvi. 10. 

Within every healing shadow is God himself ; and so, 
though it seem to be a shadow of the sorest sorrow and 
pain, yet will it lift me upward and lead me into the light. 

Robert Collyer. 

" Many shadows there be, 

But each points to the sun ; 

The shadows are many, 

The sunlight is one 

Let us look to the light 

Which is common to all, 

And down to the shadows 

That ever do fall, 

Ay, even the darkest, 

In this faith alone, 

That in tracing the shadows 

We find out the sun.' 5 



44 



MARCH. 



5. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not 
one of them is forgotten before God? — Luke xii. 6. 

" The same God who moulded the sun and kindled the 
stars, watches the flight of the insect. He who gave Saturn 
his rings gives the rose leaf its delicate tint and made the 
distant sun to nourish the violet. And the same being 
notices the praises of the cherubim and the prayer of a 
little child." 

Among so many, can He care ? 

Can special love be everywhere ? 

From the great spaces, vague and dim, 

May one small household gather Him ? 

I asked : my soul bethought of this ; 

In just that very place of His 

Where He hath put and keepeth you, 

God hath no other thing to do. 

A. D. T. Whitney. 
6. Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of. 
—Matt. vi. 8. 

Our present circumstances are to be looked upon as ad- 
vantages which the great Disposer has afforded us, and 
not, as we are apt to think, impediments which He has 
thrown in our way. They are the materials with which we 
are to begin to build, and not a heap of rubbish that must 
be cleared out of the way before we lay the first stone in 
the edifice of our lives. S. P. Herron. 

The little worries which we meet each day 

May lie as stumbling-blocks across our way ; 

Or we may make them stepping-stones to be 

Of grace, O God, to Thee. 

A. E. Hamilton. 



MARCH. 



45 



7. Behold, we count them happy which endure.— -James 
v. 11. 

Not in the achievement, but in the endurance of the 
human soul, does it show its divine grandeur, and its alli- 
ance with the Infinite God. E. H. Chapin. 

Well to suffer is divine ; 

Pass the watchword down the line, 

Pass the countersign, " Endure ! " 

Not to him who rashly dares, 

But to him who nobly bears, 

Is the victor's garland sure. 

Whittier. 

8. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are 
the everlasting arms. — Deut. xxxiii. 27. 

When we consider how weak we are in ourselves, yea, 
the very strongest of us, and how assaulted, we may justly 
wonder that we can continue one day in the state of grace ; 
but when we look on the strength by which we are guarded, 
the power of God, then we see the reason of our stability 
to the end; for omnipotency supports us, and the everlast* 
ing arms are under us. R. Leighton. 

Everlasting arms of love 

Are beneath, around, above ; 

God it is who bears us on, 

His the arm we lean upon : 

He, our ever present Guide, 

Faithful is, whate'er betide ; 

Gladly, then, we journey on, 

With His arm to lean upon. 



4 6 



MARCH. 



9. For he clave to the Lord and departed not from 
following Him. — 2 Kings xviii. 6. 

We want an aim which can never grow vile, an aim 
which cannot disappoint our hope. There is but one on 
earth, and it is that of being like God. He who strives 
after union with the perfect love must grow out of selfish- 
ness, and our success is secured in the omnipotent holiness 
of God. Stopford Brooke. 

" Nearer, my God, to thee : " the way 
Hath many a lesson hard to learn ; 
No surface thoughts, no pleasures gay, 
Can gild the pathway, true but stern. 
"Nearer, my God." In that vast thought 

The strength of ages slumbers deep : 
The soul's best powers are there inwrought, 
And God's own hand that soul shall keep. 

E. M. Hickok. 

10. See that thou make all things according to the 
pattern shewed to thee in the mount. — Heb. viii. 5. 

At any moment we may turn from the poor reality to 
the great ideal of our own lives, which is in Christ, with 
one earnest question, " Lord, what wouldst Thou have me 
to be ? " We may pierce through the clouds and reach 
the summit, and there, seeing His vision of our possibili- 
ties. . . set to work to fulfil God's image of our lives, 
to be all that He has shown us that it is possible for us to 
be. Phillips Brooks. 

" O God, work out Thy heavenly plan ; 

Within my soul unfold 
The stature of the perfect man. 
And thine own image mould." 



MARCH. 



47 



11. Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why art 
thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God. — Ps. 
xlii. 1 1. 

The grand current of events runs not downward or back- 
ward. The spirit within these rapid wheels of time, turn- 
ing them this way and that, still moves them forward and 
to blessed ends. E. H. Chapin. 

Though around our path some form 

Of mystery ever lies, 
And life is like the calm and storm 

That checker earth and skies, 
Through all its mingling joy and dread, 

Permit us, Holy One, 
By faith to see the golden thread 
Of thy great purpose run. 

E. H. Chapin. 

12. Speak, for thy servant heareth. — I. Sam. iii. 10. 

To work rightly, to work effectually you must work from 
God, consciously, faithfully, piously, from God. His 
Christ must be your leader ; his spirit your law ; his will 
your motive. Not as of yourself alone, but out of him, 
must your power come. F. D. Huntington. 

Few years, no wisdom, no renown, 
Only my life can I lay down ; 

Only my heart, Lord, to thy throne I bring ; and pray 

A child of thine I may go forth, 

And spread glad tiding through the earth, 

And teach sad hearts to know thy worth ! 

Lord, here am I. C. Whitmarsh. 



4 8 



MARCH. 



13. Where is the place of my rest? — Isa. lxvi. 1. 
Thou hast made us for thyself, and our heart is restless 

till it resteth in Thee. St. Augustine. 

" Yet the heart turns away 
From the grand destiny of bliss, and deems 
'Twas made for its poor self, for passing dreams, 
Chasing illusions, melting day by day, 
Till, for ourselves, we read on this world's best 
c This is not rest ! ' 
" Nor can the vain toil cease, 
Till in the shadowy maze of life, we meet 
One who can guide our aching, wayward feet 
To find Himself — our Way, our Life and Peace. 
In Him the long unrest is soothed and stilled, 
Our hearts are filled." 

14. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth 
fruit unto life eternal. — John iv. 36. 

What a sublime doctrine it is that Goodness cherished 
now is Eternal Life already entered on ! What can be 
more cheering and ennobling than the Trust that God 
appoints all changes as the means of a spiritual growth 
which is never to cease. What a happiness it is to feel 
assured that our education is going on perpetually. 

W. E. Channing. 
Strive to live well ; tread in the upright ways, 
And rather count thine actions than thy days. 
When thou hast lived enough among us here, 
For every day well spent I count a year ; 
Live well ; and then, how soon soe'er thou die 
Thou art of age to claim eternity. 

Thomas Randolph. 



MARCH. 



49 



15. Rooted and built up in him. — Col. ii. 7. 
Everything that raises our personal standard of thought 

and purpose, everything that brings us nearer to the stature 
of the completed one in Christ, increases our power for 
good, and makes us more and more a power in the world 
about us. When we crave the privilege of doing for others, 
it is well for us to realize the privilege of being for others. 
It is not life upon Thy gifts to live, 

But to grow fixed with deeper roots in Thee ; 
And when the sun and shower their bounties give 
To send out thick-leaved limbs — a fruitful tree 
Whose green head meets the eye for many a mile, 

Whose moss-grown arms their rigid branches rear, 
And full-faced fruits their blushing welcome smile, 
As to its goodly shade our feet draw near. 

Jones Very. 

16. Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. — Matt. xxi. 28. 
Remember now and always that life is no idle dream, 

but a solemn reality based upon eternity and encompassed 
by eternity. Find out your task ; stand to it ; the night 
cometh when no man can work. Carlyle. 
Life has import more inspiring 

Than the fancies of thy youth : 
It has hopes as high as heaven, 
It has labors, it has truth. 

It has wrongs that may be righted, 
Noble deeds that may be done : 

Its great battles are unfought, 
Its great triumphs are unwon. 

A. C. L. Botta. 



5° 



MARCH. 



17. I must work the work of him while it is day. — 
John ix. 4. 

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait. 
— Lam. iii. 26. 

Beautiful is the activity which works for good, and beau- 
tiful the stillness which waits for good : blessed the self- 
sacrifice of the one, and blessed the self-forgetfulness of 
the other. Robert Collyer. 

O power to do ! O baffled will ! 
O prayer and action ! ye are one. 
Who may not strive, may yet fulfill 
The harder task of standing still, 
And good but wished with God is done. 

Whittier. 

They also serve, who only stand and wait. Milton. 

18. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which 
a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the 
whole was leavened. — Matt. xiii. 33. 

It is almost impossible to calculate the results from our 
separate efforts, there are so many things to be taken into 
account, so many hidden springs of influence — and we 
have to search out effects over so wide a surface which 
does not come within our vision. We must work on with 
faith in that which we cannot see. S. A. Smith. 

This learned I from the shadow of a tree 
That to and fro did sway upon a wall, 
Our shadow selves, our influence may fall 

Where we can never be. A. E. Hamilton. 



MARCH. 



19. The labor of the righteous tendeth to life. — 
Prov. x. 16. 

We may lose the things we strive after to-day, . . . 
but if we bear patiently the burdens, taking the heartache 
if it comes, being faithful in the midst of the conditions 
where God has placed us, living nobly to ourselves and our 
fellowmen, we shall have built up for ourselves characters 
of divine finish, divine beauty and divine glory. 

M. J. Savage. 

Strive ; yet I do not promise 

The prize you dream of to-day 
Will not fade when you think to grasp it, 

And melt in your hand away ; 
But another and holier treasure, 

You would not perchance disdain, 
Will come when your toil is over, 

And pay you for all your pain. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 

20. Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedi- 
ence of Christ. 2 Cor. x. 5. 

That any act of religious aspiration should be efficacious 
or acceptable, it appears that only two things are neces- 
sary — not unhesitating and entire faith, . . . not ab-. 
solute virtue . . . but sincere earnestness and a will 
struggling to obey in all things the will and law of God. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 
Let our deeds be syllables 
Of the prayer our spirit swells 
In us Thy desire fulfill ; 
By us work Thy gracious will. 

Lucy Larcom. 



5 2 



MARCH. 



21. He that is slow to anger is better than the might}*; 
and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city. — 
Prcro. xvi. 32. 

Oh ! fine and delicate and manifold and much entangled 
are the tissues of life which surround us ; . . . he 
who walks through life with an even temper and a gentle 
patience, patient with himself, patient with others, patient 
with difficulties and crosses, he has an everyday greatness 
beyond that which is won in battles or chanted in cathedrals. 

Dr. Dewey. 

" No laurel decks the brow, 

Nor trump of fame 
Sounds to posterity 

His humble name. 

But truly great the man, 

A conqueror he, 
Who over self obtains 

The mastery." 

22. . . . He is not here for he is risen. — Matt. 
xxviii. 5-6. 

" The severing of dear earthly ties may be the means of 
opening up the first vista views of a glorious future. Those 
once mourned as loved and lost are now thought of only 
as loved and glorified ; or lost from sight only to be found 
again." 

O thou, by winds of grief o'erblown, 

Beside some golden summer's bier, 
Take heart ! Thy birds are only flown, 
Thy blossoms sleeping, tearful sown, 
To greet thee in the immortal } ear. 

Edna Dean Procter. 



MARCH. 



53 



23. To be ready to every good work. — Titus iii. 31. 

" No day is commonplace if we had only eyes to see its 
splendor. There is no duty that comes to our hand but 
brings to us the possibility of kingly service. . . . 
There is nothing possible to a human soul greater than 
simple faithfulness." 

" Of thy presence and thy love 

We more steadfast feeling need, 

Till the high and holy thought 

Hallow every simplest deed. 

In our work and in our homes 

Christian men we fain would be ; 

Learn how daily life affords 
Noblest opportunity." 

24. Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be 
perfect and entire, wanting nothing. — James i. 4. 

Enter into the sublime patience of the Lord. Be chari- 
table in view of it. God can afford to wait ; why cannot 
we, since we have Him to fall back upon ? 

George MacDonald. 

" O make me patient, Lord, 

Patient in daily cares ; 
Keep me from thoughtless words 

That slip out unawares. 

And help me, Lord, I pray, 

Still nearer Thee to live : 
And as I journey on, 

More of thy presence give." 



54 



MARCH. 



25. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and 
labour of love. — Heb. vi. 10. 

We want a fuller confidence bringing a deeper joy, that 
w r hat is done from a conscientious purpose will come back 
to cast hues of brightness over the evening sky, even, 
though many a cloud may have darkened the day. 

C. C. H. 

Oh ! what a glory doth this world put on 
For him who with a fervent heart goes forth 
Under the bright and glorious sky, and looks 
On duties well performed, and days well spent ! 
For him the wind, ay ! and the yellow leaves, 
Shall have a voice and give him eloquent teachings. 
He shall so hear the solemn hymn, that Death 
Has lifted up for all, that he shall go 
To his last resting-place without a tear. 

Longfellow. 

26. For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth 
to himself. — Rom. xiv. 7. 

u We ascend by one another. We live by one another's 
blessings, as we die by one another's cursings. No man 
liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. We live 
and die not only to God but to each other." 

Wherever in this world I am, 

In whatsoe'er estate, 

I have a fellowship with hearts 

To keep and cultivate. 

A work of lowly love to do 

For Him on whom I wait. 

Anna L. Waring. 



MARCH. 



55 



27. In the way of righteousness is life. — Prow. xiii. 28. 
It is not life to wake and sleep and devour. Unless the 

tree grows, though it were in December, it does not live. 
But if I seek God, — nay, if I serve God, if I use to Infinite 
Purpose the Infinite Power which I have and know I have, 
I find what life is. E. E. Hale. 

If life be as a flame that death doth kill, 
Burn, little candle, lit for me 
With a pure flame, that I may rightly see 
To word my song and utterly 
God's plan fulfil. 

If life be as a voyage, foul or fair 
Oh bid me not my banners furl 
For adverse gale, or wave in angry whirl, 
Till I have found the gates of pearl 
And anchored there. C. W. Stoddard. 

28. Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; 
prove your own selves. — 2. Cor. xiii. 5. 

There is a great gain to be obtained by the practice of 
nightly self scrutiny. He who seeks to "know himself" 
must study day by day the details of his moral health, he 
who desires to lay up " treasures in heaven," must allow 
no waste of his soul's wealth to pass unheeded. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 
Suffer not gentle sleep to close thine eyes, 
E'er thou hast thrice reviewed the labors of the day. 
What hast thou learned ? What done ? What duty ne- 
glected ? 

For the evil thou hast done, repent, for the good, rejoice. 

Golden Verses. 



56 



MARCH. 



29. That nothing be lost. — John vi. 12. 

All things "work together." . . . Many different 
colors, in themselves raw and unsightly, are required to 
weave the harmonious pattern. . . . Take a thread 
separately, and there may be neither use nor beauty dis- 
cernible. But complete the web, and you see how perfect 
and symmetrical is the result. J. R. Macduff. 

So, at the loom of life, we weave 

Our separate threads, that varying fall, 

Some stained, some fair ; and, passing, leave 
To God the gathering up of all. 

In His vast work, for good or ill, 

The undone and the done He blends, 

With whatsoever woof we fill, 

To our weak hands His might He lends, 

And gives the threads beneath His eye, 

The texture of eternity. Lucy Larcom. 

30. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, re- 
deeming the time. — Col. iv. 5. 

What is meant by redeeming time ? It is to fill the hours 
full of the richest freight, to fill them with the life of 
thought, feeling, action, as they pass by. One moment of 
self-conquest, one good action really done, yes, one effort 
to do right, really made, has the seal of time put on it. 

J. F. Clarke. 

" Will the shade go back on thy dial plate ? 

Will thy sun stand still on his way ? 
Both hasten on ; and thy spirit's fate 
Rests on the point of life's little date v 

Then live while 'tis called to-day." 



MARCH. 



57 



31. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh 
in the morning. — Ps. xxx. 5. 

Be not over-anxious ! But, if hitherto thou hast not 
been quite happy, reflect that things are ever changing. 
If darkness reign around thee at present, be comforted, 
in a few days all will be brighter. Take a full survey of 
thy present painful position, reflect on thy tribulations, 
and then see whether thou hast lost all ! Nay. And even 
hadst thou lost all else, thou hast not lost God. Why 
therefore despair ? Zschokke. 

Be still, sad heart ! and cease repining ; 
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining ; 
Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
Into each life some rain must fall, 
Some days must be dark and dreary. 

Longfellow, 

There are nettles everywhere, 

But smooth green grasses are more common still ; 

The blue of heaven is larger than the cloud. 

E. B. Browning. 



APRIL. 



1. What house will ye build me ? saith the Lord. — 
Acts vii. 49. 

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not 
be lost ; that is where they should be ; now put founda- 
tions under them. Thoreau. 
Build up, Soul, a lofty stair ; 
Build a room in healthier air. 
Here there is no rest ; 
Better climbs to best. 
Thy friends shall be the eternal stars ; 
They greet thee through thy casement bars ; 
Thy homesick feet they lead 
Where thou no house wilt need. 

Lucy Larcom. 

2. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me 
in my throne. — Rev. iii. 21. 

Our times of greatest pleasure are when we have won 
some Higher peak of difficulty, trodden under foot some 
evil, and felt day by day, so sure a growth of moral strength 
within us that we cannot conceive of an end of growth. 

Stopford Brooke. 
Nor can I count him happiest who has never 
Been forced with his own hand his chains to sever, 
And for himeslf find out the way divine ; 
He never knew the aspirer's glorious pains, 
He never earned the struggle's priceless gains. 

Lowell. 

58 



APRIL. 



59 



3. Is not this the fast that I have chosen ? to loose the 
bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and that 
ye break every yoke ? — Is. lviii. 6. 

This is our Lenten task — the utterance of penitence and 
the opening of doors to God. It must be very sacred ; not 
formal, but alive and glorified with motive. ... It must 
be very reasonable ; not unfitting the body for any good 
work, but making it a more and more perfect instrument 
for the soul. Phillips Brooks. 

'Tis a fast to dole 
Thy sheaf of wheat 

And meat 
Unto the hungry soul. 
To show a heart grief-rent ; 
To starve thy sin, 

Not bin ; 

And that's to keep thy Lent. Herbert. 

4. Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or whither shall 
I flee from thy presence ? — Ps. cxxxix. 7. 

If we cannot find God in your house and mine, upon the 
roadside or the margin of the sea ; in the bursting seed or 
opening flower ; in the day-duty and the night musing ; I 
do not think we should discern Him any more on the 
grass of Eden, or beneath the moonlight of Gethsemane. 

James Martineau. 
Henceforth my heart shall sigh no more 
For olden time and holier shore ; 
God's love and blessing then and there, 
Are now and here and everywhere. 

J. G. Whittier. 



6o 



APRIL. 



5. He shall choose our inheritance. — Ps. xlvii. 4. 

" Things are not half so unequal as some people im- 
agine. What is wrong here will be righted there. God 
may seem slow, but He is building men's characters for an 
eternal life." 

" God's plans, like lilies, pure and white unfold ; 
We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart, 
Time will reveal the calyxes of gold ; 
And if through patient toil we reach the land 
Where tired feet with sandals loosed may rest, 
Where we shall clearly know and understand, 
I think that we shall say, 1 God knew the best.' " 

6. Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God. 
— Matt. v. 8. 

You need not go far to learn how you may gain more 
vivid views of God. The sin that now rises to memory as 
your bosom sin, let this first of all be withstood and mas- 
tered. Such a spiritual conflict, trifling though it may ap- 
pear, will do more than can all other influences combined, 
to fit you for a near, strong, affectionate intimacy with your 
God. W. E. Channing. 

As of old 
He walks with men apart, 
Keeping the promise as foretold 
With all the pure in heart. 

Thou needst not ask the angels where 

His habitations be ; 
Keep thou thy spirit clean and fair 

And He shall dwell with thee. 

Alice Cary, 



APRIL. 



61 



7. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of 
God. — Heb. iv. 9. 

Let the prospect of a dwelling " in the house of the Lord 
forever " reconcile thee to any of the roughnesses or diffi- 
culties in thy present path, . . . lead thee to forget the 
intervening billows, or to think of them only as wafting 
thee nearer and nearer to thy desired haven. 

J. R. MacDuff. 

Homeward the swift-winged seagull takes her flight, 
The ebbing tide breaks softer on the sand ; 

The red-sailed boats draw homeward for the night, 
The shadows deepen over sea and land. 

Be still, mine soul, thine hour shall also come ; 

Behold, one evening God shall lead thee home. H. M. 

8. I will never leave thee. — Heb. xiii. 5. 

It is a great thing, when our Gethsemane hours come, 
when the cup of bitterness is present to our lips, and when 
we pray that it may pass away, to feel that it is not fate, 
that it is not necessity, but divine love for good ends, 
working upon us. E. H. Chapin. 

All those who journey, soon or late 
Must pass within the garden's gate ; 
Must kneel alone in darkness there, 
And battle with some fierce despair. 
God pity those who cannot say, 
" Not mine, but thine," who only pray 
" Let this cup pass," and cannot see 
The purpose in Gethsemane. 

Ella Wheeler. 



62 



APRIL. 



9. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall 
be saved. — Matt. xxiv. 13. 

It should not seem to be so very wonderful a thing that 
men could attain to the ability to say, " I am willing to 
, die." ... It seems to me a much better, grander, and 
nobler thing to say, " I am willing and ready to live, right 
here, to-day, in my circumstances ; ready to take up my 
burden, to carry my load, to do my work, to wait God's 
time. M. J. Savage. 

Blessed are they who die for God, 
And win the martyr's crown of light ; 
Yet he who lives for God may be 
A greater conqueror in his sight. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 

10. Cast thy burden upon the Lord. — Ps. lv. 22. 
The cloud that veils full knowledge is " a cloud of love." 

How wisely and kindly God has unrolled the volume of 
life, and stood by us and strengthened us when we had hard 
things to read in it. . . . It may help us to be less 
distrustful about what things lie still before us. When He 
lets us know them, He will enable us to bear them. 

John Ker. 
" In the yet to be, how much of joy or sorrow, 

Awaiteth me, God knows alone. 
How kindly hath He o'er the darkest morrow 
Hope's cheering mystery thrown. 

When strength sufficient for the burden given 

He mercifully bestows, 
I will not doubt His love, though ties be riven ; 

My need He knows." 



I 



APRIL. 63 

11. Ye are the light of the world. — Matt. v. 14. 

The doors of your soul are open on others and theirs on 
you. . . . Simply to be in this world, whatever you 
are, is to exert an influence, — an influence too, compared 
with which mere language and persuasion are feeble. 

Horace Bushnell. 
" We know not half the power for good or ill 

Our daily lives possess o'er one another, 
A careless word may help a soul to kill 

Or by one look we may redeem our brother. 

'Tis not the great things that we do or say, 
But idle words forgot as soon as spoken ; 

And little thoughtless deeds of every day 
Are stumbling-blocks on which the weak are broken." 

12. Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. — 1 Cor, 
xv. 58. 

O, there are some who want to get away from all their 
past ; who, if they could, would fain begin all over again. 
. . . But you mnst learn, you must let God teach you, 
that the only way to get rid of your past is to get a future 
out of it. God will waste nothing. Phillips Brooks. 
Standing on what too long we bore 
With shoulders bent and downcast eyes, 
We may discern — unseen before — 
A path to higher destinies. 

Nor deem the irrevocable Past 
As wholly wasted, wholly vain, 
If, rising on its wrecks, at last 
To something nobler we attain. 

Longfellow. 



64 



APRIL. 



13. I will be with him in trouble. — Ps. xci. 15. 

It is not from the tall crowded warehouse of prosperity, 
that men first or clearest see the eternal stars of heaven. 
It is often from the humble spot where we have laid down 
our dear ones that we find our best observatory, which 
gives us glimpses into the far-off world of never-ending 
time. Theodore Parker. 

The curtain of the dark 

Is pierced by many a rent ; 

Out of the star-wells, spark on spark 

Trickles through night's torn tent. 

Grief is a tattered tent 
Wherethrough God's light doth shine 
Who glances up, at every rent 
Shall catch a ray divine. 

Lucy Larcom. 

14. Quit yourselves like men. — 1 Sam. iv. 9. 

The difficulties and trials we encounter in life, and the 
weaknesses found in our character, wage against us a form 
of warfare. These are enemies that must be braved and 
vanquished upon their own ground. . . . The advan- 
tage is all our own in seeking the conflict ; it is theirs if 
we decline it. S. P. Herron. 

Sit not like a mourner, brother, by the grave of that dead 
Past : 

Throw the Present ; 'tis thy servant only when 'tis overcast. 
Give battle to the leagued world : if thou'rt worthy, truly 
brave, 

Thou shalt make the hardest circumstance a helper or a 
slave. Alexander Smith. 



APRIL. 



65 



15. The Lord .... will preserve me unto His heavenly 
kingdom. — - 2 Tim. iv. 18. 

Wherefore, O judges, be of good cheer about death, and 
know of a certainty that no evil can happen to a good man 
either in life or after death. Socrates. 
Seest thou the eastern dawn, 
Hear'st thou in the red morn 

The angels' song ? 
Oh lift thy drooping head 
Thou who in gloom and dread 
Hast lain so long. 

Death comes to set thee free. 
Oh meet him cheerily, 

As thy true friend. 
And all thy fears shall cease, 
And in eternal peace 

Thy penance end. 

" SlNTRAM." 

16. Though he be not far from every one of us.— Acts 
xvii. 27. 

All men are not spiritual men ; but all have spiritual 
sensibilities which might awake. All that is wanted is to 
become conscious of the nearness of God. . . . Our 
souls float in the immeasurable ocean of spirit. God lies 
around us : at any moment we might be conscious of the 
contact. F. W. Robertson. 

" Often when we feel alone, 

No help nor comfort near, 

'Tis only that our eyes are dim ; 

Doubting and sad, we see not Him 

Who waiteth still to hear. 



66 



APRIL. 



17. Serving the Lord with all humility of mind. — Acts 
xx. 19. 

If I do what I may in earnest, I need not mourn if I 
work no great work on the earth. To help the growth 
of a thought that struggles towards the light; to brush 
with gentle hand the earth stain from the white of one 
snowdrop — such be my ambition ! 

George MacDonald. 

Then let my feet be swift to run for Thee, 
My hands essay Thy lowliest work to do, 
My heart be warm with love, my gladness be 
To hear Thy voice and know its accents true. 
And still where Thou shalt summon, may I go, 
O Friend Divine, thrice blest to serve Thee so. 

Margaret E. Sangster. 

18. He that gathereth by labor shall increase. — Prov. 
viii. 2. 

The very difficulties of life, of which we are so apt to 
complain, are converted into the means of that discipline, 
that self-improvement, which is the great end of life. Let 
a man's present desires be met and satisfied without any 
exertion on his part, and he would be content to remain as 
he is. Progress is the child of struggle, and struggle is 
the child of difficulty. James Walker. 

" For each net, vainly cast, 
Stronger thine arm shall prove ; 
The trial of thy patient hope 
Is witness of thy love. 



APRIL. 



67 



19. Let us go on unto perfection. — Heb. vi. 1. 

Let a man begin in earnest with — I ought — he will end, 
by God's grace if he persevere, with the free blessedness 
of — I will. Let him force himself to abound in small 
offices of kindliness, affectionateness, by and by he will 
feel them become the habit of his soul. 

F. W. Robertson. 

Let me find in Thy employ 

Peace that dearer is than joy ; 

Out of self to love be led, 

And to heaven acclimated 

Until all things sweet and good 

Seem my natural habitude. Whittier. 

20. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and 
satisfy the afflicted soul ; then shall thy light rise in ob- 
scurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday; and the 
Lord shall guide thee continually. — Is. lviii. 10, 11. 

Doing nothing for others is the undoing of one's self. 
We must be purposely kind and generous, or we miss the 
best part of existence. The heart that goes out of itself 
gets large and full of joy. This is the great secret of the 
inner life. We do ourselves the most good doing some- 
thing for others. Horace Mann. 
Wherever upward, even the lowest round, 
Man by a hand's help lifts his feebler brother, 
There is the house of God, and holy ground : 
The gate of heaven is Love : there is no other. 
When generous acts bloom from unselfish thought, 
The Lord is with us, though we know it not. 

Lucy Larcom. 



68 



APRIL. 



21. Wait on the Lord : be of good courage, and he shall 
strengthen thy heart. — Ps. xxvii. 14. 

It is our Maker's care that plants alike thorns and 
flowers in our path. To reject His flowers would be no 
less unfilial than to repine at His thorns. We can accept 
them all in childlike love and grateful submission. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 

Let nothing make thee sad or fretful, 
Or too regretful ; 
Be still. 

What God hath ordered must be right, 
Then find in it thine own delight 
My will. 

Paul Fleming. 

22. I was brought low, and he helped me. — Ps cxvi. 6. 
" When I lie down at night, when I arise in the morning, 

oh give me grace to feel Thou hast sent the toil, Thou hast 
given the cross, just this very cross I am bearing now, 
trivial though it may seem ; — that Thou art working out by 
its means some great end of Thine own, for my good. 
Grant me to feel this, and then new strength will spring up 
in me, to endure, to hope, to wait." 

" My feet are weary in their daily rounds, 
My heart is weary of its daily care, 
My sinful nature often doth rebel ; 
I pray for grace my daily cross to bear. 

" It is not heavy, Lord, yet oft I pine ; 

It is not heavy, but 'tis everywhere ; 

By day and night each hour my cross I bear ; 

I dare not lay it down — Thou keepest it there." 



APRIL, 



6 9 



23. We are the children of God ; and if children, then 
heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be 
that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified to- 
gether. — Rom. viii. 16, 17. 

Children of nature, we are also sons of God ; . . . 
To wear away life in unproductive harmlessness is inno- 
cent no more ; with the glory we take the cross. We too, 
like our great leader, must be made perfect through suf- 
fering, but the hour of exceeding sorrow will prepare the 
day of godlike strength. James Martineau. 

God draws a cloud over each gleaming morn ; 

Would you ask why ? 
It is because all noblest things are born 

In agony. 

Only upon some cross of pain and woe 

God's son may lie ; 
Each soul, redeemed from self and sin, must know 

Its Calvary. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 

24. Perfect through sufferings. — Heb. ii. 10. 

The cross of Christ is the pledge to us that the deepest 
suffering maybe the condition of the highest blessing; the 
sign, not of God's displeasure, but of His widest and most 
compassionate love. Dean Stanley. 

Through sorrow, and through loss, by toil and prayer, 
Saints won the starry crowns, which now they wear. 
And by the bitter ministry of pain, 
Grievous and harsh, but oh ! not sent in vain, 
Found their eternal gain. W. H. Burleigh. 



7 o 



APRIL. 



25. Christ in you, the hope of glory. — Col. i. 27. 
Heaven begun is the living proof that makes the heaven 

to come credible. It is the eagle eye of faith which pene- 
trates the grave, and sees far into the tranquil things of 
death. He alone can believe in immortality- who feels the 
resurrection in him already. F. W. Robertson. 

Thy spirit is a breathing of thy God, 

Pulsating in its chrysalis of clay. 
The dust that tires thy feet that onward plod 

Is of the night, but thou art of the day. 
Oh, let henceforth that day from Him grow fair, 
And thou shalt hold an inner Easter there. 

E. W. Shurtleff. 

26. Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. — 
Ma?-k xii. 34. 

There are glimpses of Heaven granted to us by every 
act, or thought, or word, which raises us above ourselves 
— which makes us think less of ourselves and more of 
others, which has taught us of something higher and truer 
than we have in our own hearts. Dean Stanley. 

They whose hearts are whole and strong, 

Loving holiness, 
Living clean from soil of wrong, 

Wearing truth's white dress, — 
They unto no far-off height 

Wearily need climb ; 
Heaven to them is close in sight 

From these shores of time. 

Lucy Larcom. 



APRIL. 



71 



27. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. — Matt, 
vi. 10. 

It is a great thing to feel, in our human sorrows, that it 
is not fate that is trying us, but our dear Father who is 
dealing with us, working out for us his good ends. It is 
the sublimest power man ever puts forth, to be able to say, 
" Not my will, but thine, be done." When we can say it 
in the spirit in which Christ said it, we are the conquerors 
of the world. Lathrop. 
All as God wills, who wisely heeds, 

To give or to withhold, 
And knoweth more of all my needs 
Than all my prayers have told. 

J. G. Whittier. 

28. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and 
a thousand years as one day. — 2. Peter iii. 8. 

In the mighty cycles in which God works, our years and 
ages are moments. And so shall we give up our hope of 
heaven and progress because it is so slow, when we re- 
member that God has innumerable ages before Him ? Or 
our hopes for our own personal improvement when we 
recollect our immortality ? F. W. Robertson. 

Mighty God, the first, the last, 
What are ages in Thy sight 
But as yesterday when past, 

Or a watch within the night ? 
Whatsoe'er our lot may be, 

Calmly in this thought we'll rest, — 
Could we see as Thou dost see, 
We should choose it as the best. 

W. Gaskell. 



7 2 



APRIL. 



29. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh 
reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of 
the Spirit reap life everlasting. — Gal. vi. 8. 

"Events are only winged shuttles which fly from one 
side of the loom of life to the other, bearing the many 
colored threads out of which the fabric of our character is 
made." 

" Men weave in their own lives the garments which they 
must wear in the world to come." 

" A weaver sat at his loom, 

Flinging his shuttle fast ; 
And a thread that should wear till the hour of doom 

Was added at every cast." 

30. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land. — 
Ps. ci. 6. 

In all sorts of husks and shells, hard, withered and 
dead, God sees a goodness we are always missing. When 
He goes forth with His reapers, to gather His harvest, He 
looks as lovingly now as once He looked through the eyes 
of Christ, His Son, for all the good there is anywhere. 
There may be only a single grain in October where He 
put in a grain in March ; He bids His angels gather that 
as carefully as if it were an hundred fold. 

Robert Collyer. 
" So will I gather strength and hope anew, 
For I do know God's patient love perceives 
Not what we did, but what we tried to do ; 
And though the ripened ears be sadly few, 
He will accept our sheaves." 



MAY. 



1. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your 
Father, which speaketh in you. — Matt. x. 20. 

How sure it is that if we say a true word, instantly we 
feel it is God's, not ours, and pass it on. 

E. B. Browning. 

" Only one little word ; 

But it stirred the depths of a living heart, 

And there through the years and the changes of life, 

With its blessing and glory, its darkness and strife, 

The soul of that little word shall abide 

And nevermore depart." 

2. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. — Isa. 
xlv. 5. 

God has a definite life plan for every human person, 
girding him, visibly or invisibly, for some exact thing, 
which it will be the true significance and glory of his life 
to have accomplished. . . . Away then, O man, with 
thy feeble complaints and feverish despondencies. If God 
is really preparing us all to become that which is the very 
highest and best thing possible, there ought never to be a 
discouraged or uncheerful being in the world. 

Horace Bushnell. 

I pray in me fulfil 

Thy purpose true, and hold me still, 
So thou canst work in me 
The thing which thou dost see 
Must nearest bring this soul to thee. 

O. L. M. G. 

73 



74 



MAY. 



3. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of 
my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength 
and my Redeemer. — Ps. xix. 14. 

Oh, my friends, what is our purpose in life, yours and 
mine ? . . . . Is it something which this life has given 
and shaped, and will take ? . . . . Or is it the one 
eternal purpose of God, which is above this life, which 
was that for which this life was made, which uses it, 
and yet is superior to it, and can survive its loss and win 
the triumph in death and a new life. 

Frederick Brooks. 

As years form circles in the forest tree, 
Each year we see, 

Within us, out of sight, 
Formeth a circle for eternity, 

Dark or bright. A. E. HAMILTON. 

4. Take up his cross daily. — Luke ix. 23. 

A holy life is the very gate of heaven. But let us 
always remember that holiness does not consist in doing 
uncommon things, but in doing everything with purity of 
heart. It is made up of relative duties, and habitual 
devotion. Cardinal Manning. 

Ah ! more than martyr's aureole, 
And more than hero's heart of fire, 
We need the humble strength of soul 
Which daily toils and ills require. 
Sweet Patience ! grant us, if you may, 
An added grace for every day. 

Eliz. A. Allen. 



MAY. 



5. The whole earth is full of His glory. — Isa. vi. 3. 
To understand the simplest work of God, the Universe 

must be comprehended. Each minutest particle speaks 
of the Infinite One,. and utters the divinest truth which 
can be declared on earth or in heaven. Channing. 

Flower in the crannied wall, 
I pluck you out of the crannies ; — 
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower, — but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is. 

Tennyson. 

6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me : it is high, 
I cannot attain unto it. — Ps. cxxxix. 6. 

That with all our religious certainties there are still great 
mysteries through which we must slowly and cautiously 
grope our way, is the source of joy and hope to every 
thoughtful soul. It is only in our tired moments that we 
wish every thing had been learned, and that not a single 
word of the Lord remained to be studied. 

R. Metcalf. 

The seedlet of the rose 

While still beneath the ground, 
Think you it ever knows 
The mystery profound 
Of its own power of birth and bloom, 
Until it springs above its tomb ? 
'Tis not that God loves mystery. 
The things beyond us we can never know 
Until up to their lofty height we grow, 
And finite grasps infinity. M. J. Savage. 



76 



MAY. 



7. Help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee. — 2 
Chron. xiv. 11. 

When great trials are in view, we run simply and immedi- 
ately to our all sufficient Friend, feel our dependence, and 
cry in good earnest for help ; but if the occasion seems 
small, we are too apt secretly to lean to our own wisdom 
and strength. . . . Therefore in these we often fail. 

John Newton. 

Not only for some task sublime 

Thy help do I implore ; 
Not only at some solemn time 

Thy holy spirit pour ! 

But for each daily task of mine 
I need Thy quickening power ; 

I need Thy presence everywhere, 

I need Thee every hour. T. H. Gill. 

8. We are the people of his pasture. — Ps. xcv. 7. 
Ever} 7 nook of the mountain, every grassy knoll, — ay, 

too, and every bleak corner of these pasture grounds — 
are known to Him. As an old writer quaintly says, " He 
leads us in, He leads us through, He leads us on, He leads 
us up, He leads us home ! " J. R. Macduff. 

" He leads us on, 
By paths we did not know, 
Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow, 
Though oft we faint and falter on the way, 
Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day, 
Yet when the clouds are gone, 
We know He leads us on." 



MAY. 



77 



9. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, 
but the doers of the law shall be justified. — Rom. ii. 13. 

Do not gaze backward, nor pause to contemplate anx- 
iously what is in front, but move. If you are faithful 
God will carry you through. Work, and you shall believe. 
Do, and you shall know. You will be guided to the best 
convictions by being heartily engaged in an obedient ser- 
vice. O. B. Frothingham. 

Work, and thou wilt bless the day 

Ere the toil be done ; 

They that work not cannot play, 

Cannot feel the sun. 

God is living, working still ; 

All things work and move ; 

Work, would'st thou their beauty feel 

And thy Maker's love. C. A. Dana. 

10. I am thy shield. — Gen. xv. 1. 

Man cannot well face life without some shield between. 
He may fight ever so bravely but the spears of life will be 
too many and too sharp for him. And no shield will 
thoroughly defend him but God. The weakest calls out 
for the strongest. Theodore Munger. 

" Man, in his weakness, needs a stronger stay 

Than fellowmen, the holiest and the best. 
And yet we turn to them from day to day, 
As if in them our spirits could find rest. 

" Help us, O Lord ! with patient love to bear 

Each other's faults, to suffer with true meekness, 

Help us each other's joys and griefs to share, 
But let us turn to Thee alone in weakness." 



7 8 



MAY. 



11. If any man will come after me, let him deny him- 
self, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. — Luke 
ix. 23. 

You and I working in our several spheres and toiling 
for earth, may toil also for heaven, and every day's work 
may be a Jacob's ladder reaching up nearer to our God. 

Theodore Parker, 
All common things, each day's events 
That with the hour begin and end, 
Our pleasures and our discontents 
Are rounds by which we may ascend. 

We have not wings, we cannot soar ; 

But we have feet to scale and climb 
By slow degrees, by more and more 

The cloudy summits of our time. 

Longfellow. 

12. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth 
after me, is not worthy of me. — Matt. x. 38. 

The cross is always ready and everywhere waits for 
thee. If thou bear it cheerfully, it will bear thee, and lead 
thee to the desired end. Set thyself, therefore, like a 
good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear manfully the 
cross of thy Lord. Thomas a Kempis. 

Take up thy cross, 
Then shalt thou find the burden light, 
The path made straight, the way all bright, 

Thy warfare cease. 
So shalt thou win thy crown, 
At last thy life lay down 
In perfect peace. 



MAY, 79 

13. Be strong, and of a good courage: I will not fail 
thee, nor forsake thee. — Joshua i. 6, 5. 

Take courage, for in good time, God will relieve thee 
of thy burden. He is mighty to help, and He will cause 
a blessing to spring from that which thou now deemest an 
inexhaustible source of sorrow. He will not leave thee 
nor forsake thee. Cling to Him, and He will hold thee 
up with His strong arm. Zschokke. 
" Shall He, me alone forsaking 
Leave to bear 
All my care, 
His presence from me taking ? 
His I am in faith revering ; 
Fatherly 
Loves He me, 
I'll trust His love, unfearing. ,, 

14. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the fir- 
mament showeth his handiwork. — Ps. xix. 1. 

There are preachers enough around us. But how many 
hear ? How true it is, that till God speaks to the heart 
of man, man cannot understand the language of God 
which is uttered around him, over him, and beneath him. 

Tholuck. 
Without the smile of God upon the soul 
We see not, and the world has lost its light ; 
For us there is no quiet in the night, 
No beauty in the stars. . . . But a ray 
Upon the darkness suddenly may dart, 
And Christ's dear love be poured into the heart, 
To clothe creation in a robe of day. 

C. H. TOWNSEND. 



8o 



MAY. 



1 5. Go thy way till the end be ; for thou shalt rest, and 
stand in thy lot at the end of the days. — Dan. xii. 13. 

Whatever God may hereafter require of you, you must 
not give yourself the least trouble about. Everything He 
gives you to do, you must do as well as ever you can, and 
that is the best possible preparation for what He may want 
you to do next. George MacDonald. 

Only the present is thy part and fee, 

And happy thou 
If, though thou didst not beat thy future brow, 

Thou could'st well see 
What present things required of thee. 

George Herbert. 

16. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. — 
Col, iii. 15. 

There is a peace that will enter there if you do not 
thwart it ; there is a Spirit that will take possession of 
your soul, provided that you do not quench it. In this 
world we are recipients, not creators. In obedience and 
in gratefulness, and the infinite peace of God in the soul 
of man, is alone deep rest and repose. 

F. W. Robertson. 

If peace be in the heart, 
The wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty, 
The midnight lightning-flash but shows the path of duty, 
Each living creature tells some new and joyous story, 
The very trees and stones all catch a ray of glory 

If peace be in the heart. 

C. F. Richardson. 



MAY. 



81 



17. To do good and to communicate, forget not. — 
Ileb. xiii. 16. 

All the doors that lead inward to the secret place of the 
Most High, are doors outward, — out of self, out of small- 
ness, out of wrong. George MacDonald. 

Richest are they 
That live for God so well 
The longest day 
"Would scarce suffice to tell 
In what wide way their benefactions fell. 

Poorest are they 
That live for self so true 

Their longest day 
Brings but such good to view 
As they may need, self's service to pursue. 

E. R. Champlin. 

18. Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall 
exalt thee. — Ps. xxxvii. 34. 

When a soul is ready to do God's will, and to submit 
cheerfully to God's discipline, and to receive such fulness 
of supply as God is willing to bestow, that soul may be 
truly said to " wait on the Lord." It is a great grace, and 
it leads to a great glory. T. L. Cuyler. 

I know that God gives nothing to us for a day ; 
That what He gives He never cares to take away, 
And when He comes and seems to make our glory less, 
It is that bye and bye we may the more confess 
That He has made it brighter than it was before, — 
A Glory shining on and on forevermore. 

J. W. Chadwick. 



82 



MAY. 



19. God meant it unto good. — Gen. 1. 20. 
Everything around us and within us is meant to bear a 

part in our education. There is a perfect Providence in 
all things and in our relation to all things. . . . We 
must escape from the limitations which gall our freedom, 
by outgrowing them, by rising above them. The " life 
more abundant " is the only remedy for what we call evil. 

Charles G. Ames. 
"Life is'good, whose tidal flow 

The motions of Thy will obeys ; 
And death is good, that makes us know 
The Love Divine, that all things sways. 

" And good it is to bear the cross, 
And so Thy perfect peace to win ; 

And naught is ill, nor brings us loss, 
Nor works us harm, save only sin." 

20. I will redeem them from death. — Hosea xiii. 14. 
Death is but a blossoming out from the bulbous body, 

which kept the precious germ all winter long, and now the 
shards fall off and the immortal flower opens its beauty 
which God transfers to His own paradise, fragrant with 
men's good deeds and good thoughts. 

Theodore Parker. 

Let go the breath ! 
There is no death 

To the living soul, nor loss, nor harm. 
Not of the clod 
Is the life of God ; 

Let it mount, as it will, from form to form. 

Charles G. Ames. 



MAY. 



83 



21. I will give you rest. — Matt. xi. 28. 

The world proposes rest by the removal of a burden. 
The Redeemer gives rest by giving us the spirit and power 
to bear the burden. Christ does not promise a rest of 
inaction, nor that the trials of life shall be removed. The 
curse on this world is labor, but to him who labors ear- 
nestly and truly, it turns to blessedness. 

F. W. Robertson. 

I rest by serving at Thy will, 

Thy yoke is easy and Thy burden light ; 

And peace grows deep, and deeper still, 
As my obedience proves Thy might. 

G. M. Stone. 

22. If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this 
people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine 
eyes ? — Zech. viii. 6. 

Our only hope of strength and peace lies in knowing 
that there is one whom nothing disappoints, and nothing 
amazes. . . . Somewhere there is an eye which looks 
on all this strange bewilderment, and feels no wonder, be- 
cause it looks it through and through, and sees its first 
principles and final causes clear as daylight. 

Phillips Brooks. 
Know well, my soul, God's hand controls 

Whate'er thou fearest, 
Round Him in calmest music rolls 

Whate'er thou hearest. 
What to thee is darkness, to Him is day, 

And the end He knoweth, 
And not on a blind and aimless way 

The spirit goeth. Whittier. 



8 4 



MAY. 



23. And let us not be weary in well-doing : for in due 
season we shall reap if we faint not. — Gal. vi. 9. 

While in all things that we see, or do, we are to desire 
perfection, and strive for it, we are nevertheless not to set 
the meaner thing, in its narrow accomplishment, above the 
nobler thing, in its mighty progress .... not to 
prefer mean victory to honorable defeat ; not to lower the 
level of our aim, that we may the more surely enjoy the 
complacency of success. Ruskin. 

Greatly begin ! though thou have time 

But for a line, be that sublime ; — 

Not failure, but low aim, is crime. Lowell. 

24. I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee. — Isa. 
xli. 10. 

" God knows ! Oh, the comfort of this thought ! and 
to gain the power to cast on Him our care after we have 
done our patient best, is the secret of all true happiness 
and peace." 

" Just to leave in His dear hand 

Little things, 
All we cannot understand, 

All that stings. 
Just to let Him take the care, 

Sorely pressing, 
Finding all we let Him bear, 
Changed to blessing. 
This is all, and yet the way 

Marked by Him who loves thee best, 
Secret of a happy day, 

Secert of His promised rest." 



MAY. 



85 



25. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily. — Col. iii. 23. 
Set yourself earnestly to see what you were made to do, 

and then set yourself earnestly to do it . . . and the 
loftier your purpose is, the more sure you will be to make 
the world richer with every enrichment of yourself. 

Phillips Brooks. 
I ask not wealth, but power to take 
And use the things I have aright ; 
Not years, but wisdom that shall make 
My life a profit and delight. 

I ask not that for me, the plan 

Of good and ill be set aside ; 
But that the common lot of man 

Be nobly borne and glorified. 

Thcebe Cary. 

26. The Lord is able to give thee much more than 
this. — 2 Chron. xxv. 9. 

All that is good, all that is true, all that is beautiful, all 
that is beneficent, be it great or small, be it perfect or 
fragmentary, natural as well as supernatural, moral as well 
as material, comes from God. 

John Henry Newman. 
" Thy kingly giving far outweighs 

All that we ask or think, 
Drawing us to thy heart of love 

By many an upward link. 
And faith may climb the ladder, Prayer, 

Each step an answer given, 
Each round inscribed 1 Much more than this ' 

Up to the gates of heaven." 



86 



MAY. 



27. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord. 
Ps. xciv. 12. 

Adversity is like the period of the former and of the 
latter rain, — cold, comfortless, unfriendly to man and to 
animal ; yet from that season have their birth the flower 
and the fruit. Sir Walter Scott. 

"Learn to wait Hope's slow fruition, 
Faint not, though the way seem long ; 

There is joy in each condition — 

Hearts, through suffering, may grow strong. 

Constant sunshine, howe'er welcome, 

Ne'er would ripen fruit or flower ; 
Giant oaks owe half their greatness 

To the scathing tempest's power." 

28. And this commandment have we from him, That 
he who loveth God love his brother also. — 1 John iv. 21. 

The profession of devotional warmth, with an icy heart 
toward our fellow-men, is the vainest of all professions. 
By loving our brother whom we have seen, we best show 
our love for God whom we have not seen. C. C. H. 

Learn that to love is the one way to know 
Or God or man. 

Jean Ingelow. 

Have good-will 
To all that lives, letting unkindness die 
And greed and wrath ; so that your lives be made 
Like soft airs passing by. 

Edwin Arnold. 



MAY. 



87 



29. And in every work that he began in the service of 
the house of God, ... he did it with all his heart, 
and prospered. — 2 Chron. xxxi. 21. 

Beware how you look abroad for the succor that you 
will contribute nothing to bring. Bear your own part, 
according to the imperfect ability you have received, in 
the work of your deliverance. That part and that ability 
may be small ; but they are required, and they shall be 
enough. O. B. Frothingham. 

" Life is struggle, combat, victory, — 

Wherefore have I slumbered on 
With my forces all unmarshalled, 
With my weapons all undrawn ? 
Oh, how many a glorious record 

Had the angel of me kept, 
Had I done, instead of doubted, 
Had I warred, instead of wept ! " 

30. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down : 
for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. — Ps. xxxvii. 23, 
24. 

The only failure a man ought to fear, is failure in cleav- 
ing to the purpose he sees to be best. 

George Eliot. 
Not all who seem to fail have failed indeed ; 

Not all who fail have therefore worked in vain ; 
For all our acts to many issues lead, 

And out of earnest purpose, pure and plain, 
Enforced by honest toil of hand or brain, 
The Lord will fashion in His own good time 
Such ends as to His wisdom rltliest chime 
With His vast love's eternal harmonies. 

— Politics for the People. 



88 



MAY. 



31. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when 
he cometh shall find watching. — Luke xii. 37. 

Are we habitually ready to die ? . . . Not by a pre- 
ternatural state of feeling, but by the habitual and calm 
discharge of our duty, by labors of kindness, by a temper 
of mind kindred to that heaven which we hope to enter ? 

Dr. Dewey. 

I may not know, my God ; no hand revealeth 

Thy counsels wise ; 
Along the path a deepening shadow stealeth, 

No voice replies 
To all my questioning thought, the time to tell, 

And it is well. 
Let me keep on, abiding and unfearing 

Thy will always, 
Through a long century's ripening fruition, 

Or a short day's. 
Thou canst not come too soon, and I can wait 

If Thou come late. 

Susan Coolidge. 



JUNE. 



1. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. — 
Rom. xiii. 8. 

To find the ideal life in the normal, you must do two 
hard things, — get rid of the world in your heart, and get 
rid of self — of thinking of yourself, and of feeling round 
yourself. One thing is needful, — only one, — and that one 
thing is Love. Stopford Brooke. 

" Daily struggling, though enclosed and lonely, 

Every day a rich reward will give ; 
Thou wilt find by hearty striving only, 
And truly loving, thou canst truly live." 

2. Nevertheless I am continually with thee. — Ps, 
lxxiii. 23. 

There is a gracious Providence over us, never doubt 
that. The spirit of truth and of God is blowing around us 
like the wind, invisible, mysterious, like the air. We can- 
not tell whence it comes, or whither it goes. But it is 
coming and going evermore in all parts of the earth, in 
every human bosom. W. H. Furness. 

Before beginning, and without an end, 
As space eternal, and as surety sure, 
Is fixed a Providence which moves to good, 

Only its laws endure. 
It maketh and unmaketh, mending all ; 
What it hath wrought is better than hath been ; 
Slow grows the splendid pattern that it plans 
Its wistful hands between. 

Edwin Arnold. 

89 



9 o 



JUNE. 



3. For what is your life ? It is even a vapor, that 
appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. — 
James iv. 14. 

Yet this very instability of human things, O blessed wis« 
dom of God, is in the perfection of thy decrees ; that by 
it we may be compelled to seek after solid and unchange- 
able good. St. Gregory. 
I thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast kept 

The best in store, 
We have enough, yet not too much 

To long for more ; 
A yearning for a deeper peace 

Not known before. 
I thank Thee, Lord, that here our souls, 

Though amply blest, 
Can never find, although they seek 

A perfect rest — 
Nor never shall, until they lean 

On Jesus' breast. Adelaide A. Procter. 

4. But let every man take heed how he buildeth. — 1 
Cor. iii. 10. 

We are builders of our own characters. We have dif- 
ferent positions, spheres, capacities, privileges, different 
work to do in the world, different temporal fabrics to 
raise ; but we are all alike in this, — all are architects of 
fate. J. F. W. Ware. 

" We are builders, and each one 

Should cut and carve, as best he can. 

Every life is but a stone, 

Every one shall hew his own, 

Make or mar, shall every man." 



JUNE. 



91 



5. We must through much tribulation enter into the 
kingdom of God. — Acts xiv. 22. 

True religion is no mere mystic, passive dream of devo- 
tion. Its best definition is a doing as well as a being. . . 
The eye must be upward, the footsteps onward. Every 
day should find us farther from earth and nearer heaven. 

J. R. MacDuff. 

The stranger wandering in the Switzer's land, 
Before its awful mountain tops afraid, 

Who yet with patient toil has gained his stand 
On the bare summit where all life is stayed, ^ 

Sees far, far down beneath his blood-dimmed eyes 
Another country, golden to the shore, 

Where a new passion and new hopes arise, 
Where southern blooms unfold forever more. 

Yet courage, soul ! nor hold thy strength in vain. 

In hope o'ercome the steeps God set for thee, 
For past the Alpine summits of great pain 

Lieth thine Italy. Rose Terry Cooke. 

6. Bring forth fruit with patience. — Luke viii. 15. 
Every man must patiently bide his time. He must wait 

— not in listless idleness, — but in constant, steady, cheer- 
ful endeavors, always willing, and fulfilling and accom- 
plishing his task, that, when the occasion comes, he may 
be equal to the occasion. Longfellow. 
" Never hasting, never resting, 

Glad in peace, and calm in strife, 
Quietly thyself preparing 
To perform thy part in life." 



9 2 



JUNE. 



7. Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is 
for the eyes to behold the sun. — Eccles. xi. 7. 

That which sets the sun in our inner life, though illness 
may come, though life may be darkened with misfortune, 
is to have the sunlight of God's presence in our souls ; 
the sunlight of goodness, of a pure heart, of the true and 
loving spirit of Christ Jesus. Stopford Brooke. 

There are briars besetting every path 

Which call for patient care ; 
There is a cross in every lot, 

And an earnest need for prayer ; 
But a lonely heart that leans on Thee, 

Is happy anywhere. Anna Waring. 

8. I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart ; I 
will show forth all thy marvellous works. — Ps. ix. 1. 

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful 
. . . . welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, 
every fair flower, and thank Him for it, who is the fountain 
of all loveliness, and drink it simply and earnestly with all 
your eyes ; it is a charmed draught, a cup of blessing. 

Charles Kingsley. 
For the earth and all its beauty, 

The sky and all its light, — 
For the dim and soothing shadows 

That rest the dazzled sight, — 
For unfading fields and prairies 

Where sense in vain has trod, — 
For Thy world's exhaustless beauty 
I thank Thee, O my God ! 

Lucy Larcom. 



JUNE. 



93 



9. Thou art my father. — Ps. Ixxxix. 26. 

" Seek to cherish a spirit of more childlike confidence 
in thy Heavenly Father's will. Thou art not left unbe- 
friended and alone to buffet the storms of the wilderness. 
Where can a child be safer or better than in a father's 
hand ? " 

Not a floweret fadeth, 

Not a star grows dim, 
Not a cloud o'ershadoweth, 

But 'tis marked by Him. 
Dream not that thy gladness 

God doth fail to see ; 
Think not in thy sadness 

He forgetteth thee. 

A. C. Jennings. 

10. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law 
of Christ. — Gal. vi. 2. 

We are our best when we try to be it not for ourselves 
alone, but for our brethren ; and we take God's gifts most 
completely, when we realize that He sends them to us for 
the benefit of other men, who stand beyond us, needing 
them. Phillips Brooks. 

Thy love 

Shall chant it own beatitudes, 

After its own life working. A child-kiss 

Set on thy sighing lips, shall make thee glad ; 

A poor man, served by thee, shall make thee rich ; 

A sick man, helped by thee, shall make thee strong ; 

Thou shalt be served thyself by every sense 

Of service which thou renderest. 

E. B. Browning. 



94 



JUNE. 



11. Commune with your own heart. — Ps. iv. 4. 

Meditative self-knowledge is the true school of rever- 
ence, of sympathy, of hope, and of immovable humility, 
for there we see, side by side, what we are and what we 
ought to be, for there too, we meet, spirit to spirit, the 
Almighty Holiness that lifts us to Himself. 

James Martineau. 
By all means use sometimes to be alone, 

Salute thyself, see what thy soul doth wear, 
Dare to look in thy chest, — for 'tis thine own, — 
And tumble up and down what thou findest there. 

George Herbert. 

12. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. — Matt. 
vi. 34. 

Be not anxious about to-morrow. Do to-day's duty, 
fight to-day's temptation ; and do not weaken and distract 
yourself by looking forward to things which you cannot 
see, and could not understand if you saw them. Enough 
for you that the God for whom you fight is just and merci- 
ful; for He rewardeth every man according to his work. 

Charles Kingsley. 
The morrow, when it comes, shall know 

Its daily task, its daily care ; 
But not till then it deigns to show 
Its needed act, its needed prayer. 

Then to the Present be thou true ; 

To that let thought and act be given , 
And thou shalt find a vigor new 

To take the next great step to heaven. 

T. C. W. 



JUNE. 



95 



13. He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light 
dwelleth with Him. — Dan. ii. 22. 

In perplexities, — when we cannot tell what to do, when 
we cannot understand what is going on around us, — let 
us be calmed and steadied and made patient by the 
thought that what is hidden from us is not hidden from 
Him. F. R. Havergal. 

" He who cares for the lily, 

And heeds the sparrow's fall 
Shall tenderly lead His loving child ; 
For He made and loveth all. 

And so, when wearied and baffled, 
And I know not which way to go, 

I know that He can guide me, 
And 'tis all that I need to know." 

14. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you : 
not as the world giveth, give I unto you. — John xiv. 27. 

Let no one dream, who follows Christ, that he will be 
saved from outward trouble, or have peace from the sor- 
rows of mankind. It was spiritual peace that was His 
peace ; it was that which He left to us. 

Stopford Brooke. 
" Not as the world giveth," grudgingly, 

But freely, everlasting peace — 

A silent river, flowing through the plains of earthly sorrow, 
Ever growing broader, deeper, purer, 
Till the boundless peace of Heaven 
Rolls around it like to ocean, 

u Give I unto you." H. M. Gulick. 



9 6 



JUNE. 



15. The Lord shall give that which is good. — Ps. 

1XXXV. 12. 

God has placed no being in a barren soil ; no one where 
he may not find the elements of immortal life ; none, 
where, through perfect fidelity to its condition, its roots 
may not reach out to embrace the earth, and spread out 
branches and leaves to heal and overshadow it. 

N. A. Staples. 
Forgive us, Lord, our little faith ; 

And help us all, from morn till e'en, 
Still to believe that lot the best 

Which is, — not that which might have been. 

G. Z. Gray. 

16. For the invisible things of him from the creation 
of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the 
things that are made. — Rom. i. 20. 

Every rose is an autograph from the hand of the Al- 
mighty God. On this world about us He has inscribed 
His thought, in those marvellous hieroglyphs which sense 
and science have been these many thousand years seeking 
to understand. The universe itself is a great Autograph 
of the Almighty. Theodore Parker. 

The word were but a blank, a hollow sound, 
If he that spake it were not speaking still-, 
If all the light and all the shade around 
Were aught but issues of Almighty Will. 

So then believe that every bird that sings, 
And every flower that stars the elastic sod, 

And every thought the happy summer brings 
To the pure spirit is a word of God. 

Coleridge. 



JUNE. 



97 



17. Fear thou not, for T am with thee. — Isa. xli. 10, 
Think what it is to be full of love to every creature ; to 

be frightened at nothing, to be sure that all things will 
turn to good, not to mind pain, because it is our Father's 
will ; to know that nothing could part us from God who 
loves us, and who fills our souls with peace and joy, 
because we are sure that whatever He wills is holy, just 
and good. George Eliot. 

More than our feeble hearts can ever pine 

For holiness, 
The Father, in His tenderness divine, 

Yearneth to bless. 
He never sends a joy not meant in love, 

Still less a pain ; 
Our gratitude the sunlight falls to prove, 
Our faith, the rain. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 

18. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience. 
— Rev. ii. 2. 

If for some of us action cannot mean doing, then re- 
member bearing, too, is action, often its hardest part. 

W. C. Gannett. 
" I am not eager, bold, or strong ; 

All that is past ; 
I am ready not to do, 
At last — at last." 

" Then seek to please Him, whatsoe'er 

He bids thee ! 
Whether to do, — to suffer, — to lie still. 
'Twill matter little by what path He leads us, 
If in it all we sought to do His will." 



9 8 



JUNE. 



19. And Jacob said, I will not let thee go, except thou 
bless me. . . . And he blessed him there.— Gen. xxxii. 
26-29. 

The besetting sin may become the guardian angel. Let 
us thank God that we can say it ! Yes, this sin that has 
sent me weary-hearted to bed and desperate in heart to 
morning work, can be conquered. I do not say, anni- 
hilated, but better than that, conquered, captured and 
transfigured into a friend ; so that I, at last, shall say, " My 
temptation has become my strength ! for to the very fight 
with it I owe my force. W. C. Gannett. 

We rise by the things that are under feet ; 

By what we have mastered of good or gain ; 
By the pride deposed and the passion slain, 
And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet. 

J. G. Holland. 

20. As ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye 
be also of the consolation. — 2 Cor. i. 7. 

When God would educate a man, He compels him to 
learn bitter lessons. He sends him to school to the neces- 
sities, rather than to the graces, that by knowing all suffer- 
ing, he may know also the eternal consolation. 

Celia Burleigh. 
Think not alone of what the Lord hath taken, 
Thou whom His love has of some joy bereft, 
But in the moments thou art most forsaken, 
Think what His love hath left. 

Count up thy gains won from affliction's losses, 
The riches gathered in no cheaper mart ; 

The faith and hope, new crowns to costly crosses, 
Wrought out by sorrow's mart. E. E. Lay. 



JUNE. 



99 



21. Not as though I had already attained, either were 
already perfect ; but I follow after. — Phil. iii. 12. 

Whoever is satisfied with what he does, has reached his 
culminating point — he will progress no more. Man's 
destiny is to be not dissatisfied, but forever unsatisfied. 

F. W. Robertson. 

" Better to strive and climb, 

And never reach the goal, 

Than to drift along with time — 

An aimless, worthless soul. 

Ay, better to climb and fall, 

Or sow, though the yield be small, 

Than to throw away day after day, 

And never strive at all." 

22. O death, where is thy sting ? — 1 Cor. xv. 55. 

" Death is a flight away from earth, not a lying down a 

few feet beneath its sods All things around us 

and in us are felt to be beginnings, and the curtains of the 
unseen world, as if lifted by the wind, wave ever and anon 
into our face, and cling like a mask we think we see 
through." 

Why shouldst thou fear the beautiful angel Death, 
Who waits thee at the portals of the skies, 

Ready to kiss away thy struggling breath, 
Ready with gentle hand to close thy eyes ? 

Oh, what were life, if life were all ? Thine eyes 
Are blinded by their tears, or thou would'st see 

Thy treasures wait thee in the far-off skies, 

And Death, thy friend, will give them all to thee. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 



IOO 



JUNE. 



23. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good 
unto all men. — Gal. vi. 10. 

If we work upon marble, it will perish ; but if we 
work upon immortal minds, if we imbue them with prin- 
ciples, with the fear of God, and love of our fellowmen, — 
we engrave on these tablets something which will bright- 
en for all eternity. Daniel Webster. 
Rouse to some work of high and holy love, 
And thou an angel's happiness shalt know, 
Shalt bless the earth, when in the world above 
The good begun by thee shall onward flow 
In many a branching stream, and wider grow ; 
The seed that in these few and fleeting hours 
Thy hands unsparing and unwearied sow, 
Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers, 
And yield thee fruits divine in Heaven's immortal bowers. 

Carlos Wilcox. 

24. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
all thy might. — Ecc. ix. 10. 

The surest method of arriving at a knowledge of God's 
eternal purposes about us is to be found in the right use 
of the present moment. Each hour comes with some little 
fagot of God's will fastened upon its back. 

F. W. Faber. 
"Do not then stand idly waiting 
For some greater work to do. 

Go and toil in any vineyard, 
Do not fear to do or dare, 
If you want a field of labor, 
You will find it anywhere." 



JUNE. 



101 



25. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus. — Phil. iii. 14. 

Do not dare to live without some clear intention toward 
which your living shall be bent. Mean to be something 

with all your might Do not dare to think that 

a child of God can worthily work out his career, or wor- 
thily serve God's other children, unless he does both in 
the love and fear of God their Father. 

Phillips Brooks. 

A sacred burden is this life ye bear, 
Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly, 
Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly. 
Fail not for sorrow ; falter not for sin, 
But onward, upward, till the goal ye win. 

F. A. Kemble. 

26. So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and 
every one members one of another. — Rom. xii. 5. 

You never miss an opportunity of giving innocent pleas- 
ure, or helping another soul on the path to God, but you 
are taking away from yourselves forever what might have 
been a happy memory, and leaving in its place pain or 
remorse. Frances Power Cobbe. 

Like warp and woof all destinies 

Are woven fast, 
Linked in sympathy like the keys 
Of an organ vast. 

Back to thyself is measured well 

All thou hast given ; 
Thy neighbor's wrong is thy present hell, 

His bliss, thy heaven. Whittier. 



102 



JUNE. 



27. Grow in grace. — 2 Peter iii. 18. 

These lives of ours are capable of being filled with 
God, possessed by His love, eager after His communion ; 
and if they are, .... they shall be quietly, steadily, 
nobly lifted into something of the peace and dignity of the 
God whom they aspire to. 

Phillips Brooks. 
We the weak ones, we the sinners, 
Would not in our poorness stay; 
We the low ones would be winners 
Of what holy height we may : 

Ever nearer 
To thy pure and perfect day. T. H. Gill. 

28. It is the Lord . let him do what seemeth him good. 
— i Sam. iii. 18. 

Every thread in the tangled skein of events is numbered 
and hath its ministry. Out from that tangled skein, out 
from each trivial event and circumstance, out from the 
thornbush by the wayside God's wisdom is speaking, as 
truly as from the height of heaven. Dr. Dewey. 

" For us, . . . . whatever's undergone, 
Thou knowest, wiliest what is done. 
Grief may be joy misunderstood; 
Only the Good discerns the good. 
I trust Thee while my days go on. 

<4 Whatever's lost, it first was won ! 

We will not struggle nor impugn. 

Perhaps the cup was broken here 

That Heaven's new wine might show more clear. 

I praise Thee while my days go on." 



JUNE. 103 

29. That they be in behaviour as becometh holiness. — 
Titus ii. 3. 

" The serene, silent beauty of a holy life is the most 
powerful influence in the world, next to the might of the 
Spirit of God." 

Go, make thy garden fair as thou canst, 

Thou workest never alone, 
Perchance he whose plot is next to thine 
Will see it, and mend his own. 

Robert Collyer. 
Thou knowest not what argument 
Thy life to thy neighbor's creed hath lent ; 
All are needed by each one ; 
Nothing is fair or good alone. Emerson. 

30. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the 
world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. — 
John xvii. 15. 

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the 

people think It is easy in the world to live 

after the world's opinion ; it is easy in solitude to live after 
our own ; but the great man is he who in the midst of the 
crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of 
solitude. Emerson. 
Man should dare all things that he knows are right, 

And fear to do no act save what is wrong ; 
But guided safely by his inward light, 

And with a permanent belief and strong, 
In Him who is our Father and our Friend, 
He' should walk steadfastly unto the end. 

Phcebe Cary. 



JULY. 



1. Friend, go up higher. — Luke xiv. 10. 

Patience and strength are what we need ; an earnest use 
of what we have now ; and all the time an earnest dis- 
content until we come to what we ought to be. 

Phillips Brooks. 

" Ah ! far too faint, too poor 

Are all our views and aims — we only stand 

Within the borders of the promised land, 

Its precious things we seek not to secure ; 

And thus our hands hang down, and oft unstrung, 

Our harps are left the willow-trees among. 

Lord, lead us upward, forward, till we know 

How much of heavenly bliss may be enjoyed below." 

2. The Lord of hosts is with us. — Ps. xlvi. n. 

It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers 
that his Helper is omnipotent. Jeremy Taylor. 

" I look to Thee in every need, 

And never look in vain ; 
I feel Thy strong and tender love, 

And all is well again ; 
The thought of Thee is mightier far 
Than sin and pain and sorrow are. 

" Thy calmness bends serene above, 

My restlessness to still ; 
Around me flows Thy quickening life, 

To nerve my faltering will ; 
Thy presence fills my solitude, 
Thy providence turns all to good." 

104 



JULY. 



3. Fear not ; for I am with thee. — Gen. xxvi. 24. 

" If in the day of sorrow we own God's presence in the 
cloud, we shall find him also in the pillar of fire, brighten- 
ing and cheering our way as the night comes on." 

Misfortune is never mournful to the soul that accepts 
it, for such do always see that every cloud is an angel's 
face. W. C. Whitcomb. 

All God's angels come to us disguised, — 
Sorrow and sickness, poverty and death, 
One after other lift their frowning masks, 
And we behold the seraph's face beneath, 
All radiant with the glory and the calm 
Of having looked upon the face of God. 

Lowell. 

4. That I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have 
not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. — Phil. ii. 16. 

It is not only that God does not let one sparrow fall to 
the ground without Him, but not one good thought, feel- 
ing, purpose, deed. Our smiles, our tears, our prayers, 
our hopes, our efforts are all numbered, as well as the 
hairs of our heads. The grass for to-morrow's oven is 
not alone clothed, but every righteous intent. 

J. F. W. Ware. 

" Say not, 1 'Twas all in vain,' 

The patience and the pity and the word 

In warning breathed 'mid passion's hurricane, 
Unheeded here — but God that whisper heard, 

The tender grief o'er stranger's sorrow shed, 

The sacrifice that won no human praise." 



io6 



JULY. 



5. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the 
tree of life. — Rev. ii. 7. 

Who hath a greater combat than he that laboreth to 
overcome himself ? This ought to be our endeavor, — to 
conquer ourselves and daily wax stronger, and to make a 
further growth in holiness. a Kempis. 

A man can no more be a Christian without facing evil 
and conquering it, than he can be a soldier without going 
to battle and encountering the enemy in the field. 

E. H. Chapin. 

My soul, be on thy guard ! 

Ten thousand foes arise ; 
The hosts of sin are pressing hard 

To draw thee from the skies. 
Oh, watch and fight and pray ! 

The battle ne'er give o'er ; 
Renew it boldly day by day, 

And help divine implore. 

George Heath. 

6. Day unto day uttereth speech. — Ps. xix. 2. 

Every yesterday is talking to, instructing to-day 

We live in, and because of, yesterdays. Their life enters 
into ours. Not only yesterday speaks to to-day, but what 
yesterday says decides what to-day is. He lives well and 
wisely who has the speech of each day as it goes, who 
hears and heeds the voice it utters. J. F. W. Ware. 

Each man's life 

The outcome of his former living is ; 

The by-gone wrongs bring forth sorrows and woes. 

The by-gone right breeds bliss. 

Edwin Arnold. 



JULY. 



7. Thy right hand shall hold me. — Ps. cxxxix. 9-10. 
Never fear that your wants are forgotten, because the 

boundless Creation sends up a cry to its common Father, 
and He has an infinite Family for whom to provide. Were 
you His only creature alive, Fie could not think of you 
more constantly and' tenderly than He does now. 

W. E. Channing. 
Yes, for me, for me He careth 
With a Father's tender care ; 
Yes, with me, with me He shareth 
Every burden, every fear. 

Yes, o'er me, o'er me He watcheth, 
Ceaseless watcheth, night and day; 

Yes, even me, even me He snatcheth 
From the perils of the way. 

HORATIUS BONAR. 

8. Teach me to do thy will. — Ps. cxliii. 10. 

It makes the mind very free when we give up wishing, 
and only think of bearing what is laid upon us, and doing 
what is given us to do. George Eliot. 

" The straightest way, perhaps which may be sought, 
Lies through the great highway men call — ' I ought.' " 

The battle of our life is won 

And Heaven begun, 
When we can say " Thy will be done," ' 

But, Lord, until 
These restless hearts in Thy deep love are still, 
We pray Thee, teach us how to do Thy will. 

Lucy Larcom. 



io8 



JULY. 



9. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, . . . yet 
surely my judgment is with the Lord. — Isa, xlix. 4. 

" It is a fine notion of life to liken it to the loom. God 
puts on the warp in those circumstances in which we find 
ourselves, and which we cannot change. The weft is 
wrought by the shuttle of every day life. It is made of 
very homely threads sometimes, common duties, unpromis- 
ing and unwelcome tasks. But whoever tries to do each 
day's work in the spirit of patient loyalty to God, is weav- 
ing the texture whose other side is fairer than the one he 
sees." 

" There is no end to the sky, 

And the stars are everywhere, 
And time is eternity, 

And the here is over there ; 
And the common deeds of the common day 
Are ringing bells in the far-away." 

10. For a just man falleth seven times and riseth up 
again. — P?-ov. xxiv. 16. 

Neither let mistakes nor wrong directions, of which 
every man, in his studies and elsewhere, falls into many, 
discourage you. There is precious instruction to be got 
by finding we were wrong. Let a man try faithfully, man- 
fully to be right ; he will grow daily more and more right. 

Carlyle. 

I hold it truth, with him who sings 
To one clear harp in divers tones, 
That men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things. 

Tennyson. 



JULY. 



109 



11. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids 
look straight before thee. Turn not to the right hand nor 
to the left. — Prov. iv. 25-27. 

Forward, thou faint and trembling heart — still forward 
upon the path of duty — the path prescribed by God. 
Thou canst not see the issue, but His eye has seen it long 
ago. His world has been so arranged that upon the path 
of duty, and upon that path alone — can the blissful goal 
be reached. Tholuck. 
" Yet must I labor still 

All the day through, — 
Striving with earnest will 
Patient my place to fill, 
My work to do. 

" Long though my task may be, 

Cometh the end. 
God 'tis that helpeth me, 
His is the work, and He 

New strength will lend." 

12. Let your light so shine before men, that they may 
see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in 
Heaven. — Matt. v. 16. 

I wish we would consider ourselves to be set in this 
world as a crystal, which, placed in the middle of the 
universe, would give free passage to all that light which 
it receives from above. DeReuty. 
Let each act 
Assoil a fault, or help a merit grow : 
Like threads of silver seen through crystal beads 
Let love through good deeds show. 

Edwin Arnold. 



110 



JULY. 



13. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. — 
2 Cor. vii. 9, 10. 

There is no more enviable condition than that of him 
who has made the pressure of adverse things the means of 
a deep faith. There is no good so great as that which 
the soul has itself wrought and secured, through its over- 
coming faith. J. F. W. Ware. 

" Yet my soul ! look not behind thee, 

Thou hast work to do at last : 

Let the brave toil of the present 

Overarch thy crumbling past ; 

Build thy great acts high and higher, * 

Build them on the conquered sod 

Where thy weakness first fell bleeding, 

Where thy first prayer was to God." 

14. Not my will, but thine, be done. — Luke xxii. 42. 
Devotion, a constant sense of God's presence, a habit of 

seeing his will and wisdom in everything around us, — this 
is the top and crown of human culture, and it will cost us 
care and patience and prayer to rise to it. 

Dr. Dewey. 
The dear God hears and pities all ; 

He knoweth all our wants ; 
And what we blindly ask of him, 

His love withholds or grants. 

And so I sometimes think our prayers 

Might well be merged in one ; 
And nest and perch, and hearth and church 

Repeat, " Thy will be done." 

Whittier. 



JULY. 



Ill 



15. Strengthened with all might, according to His glo- 
rious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy- 
fulness. — Col. i. 11. 

If happiness be the end of life, life in this world is a 
great and manifest failure. But if it be something more, — 
if it be to train the soul in reverence and faith and obedi- 
ence to God, — then w T ith much that is dark, we have 
some light on our way through the mysteries that sur- 
round us. John Ker. 

" Yet if each wish denied, each woe and pain, 
Break but some link of that oppressive chain 
Which binds us still to earth, and leaves a stain 

Thou only canst remove, — 
Then am I blest, — oh bliss from man concealed ; 
If here to God, the weak one's tower and shield, 
My heart through sorrow be set free to yield 

A service of deep love." 

16. God is love. — 1 John iv. 8. 

We never know through what divine mysteries of com- 
pensation the great Father of the universe may be carry- 
ing out His sublime plan ; and those three words, " God is 
love," ought to contain to every doubting soul the solution 
of all things. D. M. Mulock. 

I say to thee, do thou repeat 

To the first man thou mayest meet 

In lane, highway, or open street, 

That he and we and all men move 

Under a canopy of love 

As broad as the blue sky above. 

R. C. Trench. 



112 



JULY. 



17. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount 
Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. — Ps. 

CXXV. I. 

To be dependent on others for sympathy and comfort 
makes you weak ; to be self-dependent makes you weaker 
still, for that fails you in the day of your greatest need ; to 
become independent is a dream of your pride, for no such 
thing is possible; to become dependent on God makes 
you strong ; yea, clothes you out of His own AlmightinesSj 
and draws you up into His safety and refuge. 

E. H. Sears. 

From human eyes 'tis better to conceal 

Much that I suffer, much I hourly feel ; 

But, oh ! this thought doth tranquillize and heal, 

All, all is known to Thee. 

Each secret conflict with indwelling sin, 

Each sickening fear I ne'er the prize shall win, 

Each pang from irritating turmoil, din, 

All, all are known to Thee. A. L. Newton. 

18. Thou hast been faithful over a few things . . . 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. — Matt. xxv. 21. 

If we perform what we are able to perform, how little 
soever it may be, it is enough ; it will be acceptable in the 
sight of Him who knows how to estimate exactly all our 
actions. L. Murray. 

" We need no wings 

To soar aloft to realms of higher things, 
But only feet which walk the paths of peace, 
Guided by Him whose voice 
Greets every ear, makes every heart rejoice." 



JULY. 



19. And I give unto them eternal life. — John x. 28. 
Believing in the All-good, I feel that the Perfection of 

my own spirit is not a dream; that it may become a real- 
ity ; . . . that if faithful to the laws of the Religious 
Life I shall conquer not only death, but what is much 
more terrible than death, the power of mortal evil. 

W. E. Channing. 
Like unto ships far off at sea, 
Outward, or homeward bound, are we. 
Ah ! if our souls but poise and swing 
Like the compass in its brazen ring, 
Ever level, and ever true 
To the toil and the task we have to do, 
We shall sail securely and safely reach 
The Fortunate Isles, on whose shining beach 
The sights we see and the sounds we hear 
Will be those of joy and not of fear. 

Longfellow. 

20. I will be glad and rejoice in thee. — Ps. ix. 2. 
Throughout the entire word of God, we are taught the 

sacred duty of being happy. Be happy, cheerful, rejoice- 
ful as we can, we cannot go beyond the spirit of the Gos- 
pel. . . . Christ, though " a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief " was happy and rejoiced in spirit. 

Dean Stanley. 

" The heart that trusts, forever sings, 
And feels as light as it had wings ; 
A well of peace within it springs ; 

Come good or ill, 
Whate'er to-day, to-morrow brings, 

It is His will." 



ii4 



JULY. 



21. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be 
joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth 
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are 
exercised thereby. — Heb. xii. n. 

We often live under a cloud, and it is well for us that 
we should do so. Uninterrupted sunshine would parch 
our hearts : Yv 7 e want shade and rain to cool and refresh 
them. Hare. 
" Is it raining, little flower ? 

Be glad of rain. 
Too much sun would wither thee. 

'Twill shine again. 
The sky is very black, 'tis true, 
But just behind it shines the blue. 

" Art thou weary, tender heart ? 

Be glad of pain ; 
In sorrow sweetest things will grow 

As flowers in rain. 
God watches and thou wilt have sun 
When clouds their perfect work have done." 

22. Forbearing one another in love. — Eph. iv. 2. 
The presence of the Lord with man is first given when 

he loves his neighbor. Swedenborg. 

"He who would bear my light and easy yoke 
Must wear love's bridle also on his lips. 

Love is a spring 
Which in the dark depths of the heart must rise 

Fed from the skies, 
Extend its influence to everything, 
To just deeds, gentle lips, and truthful eyes." 



JULY. 



23. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier 
of Jesus Christ. — 2 Tim. ii. 3. 

" Can we bear," we ask, " going on with the struggle 
forever ? " Yes, we can, but only when we are possessed 
by the noblest and the strongest ideas, when we enter into 
the struggle as men who are resolved not to retreat a 
single step. Stopford Brooke. 

Therefore in patience I possess my soul : 

Yea, therefore as a flint I set my face 
To pluck down, to build up again the whole; 
But in a distant place. 

These thorns are sharp, but I can tread on them : 
This cup is loathsome, yet He makes it sweet. 

My face is steadfast toward Jerusalem ; 
My heart remembers it. 

Christina Rossetti. 

24. Thou hast ordered all things. — Sol. xi. 20. Apocrypha. 
There is no room for chance. Strange may be the way 

in which the lot is cast into our lap, but whether it be cast 
by visible or invisible hands, whether suddenly, or so 
slowly that we can see it come, whether plentifully or spar- 
ingly, — it is always cast exactly as the Lord wills. 

Tholuck. 

As God leads me, I am still 

Within His hand, 
Though His purpose my self-will 

Doth oft withstand, 
Yet I wish that none 
But His will be done, 
Till the end be won 

That He hath planned. L. Gedicke. 



JULY. 



25. The Lord directeth his steps. — Prov. xvi. 9. 

" Oh restless hearts that beat against your prison bars 
of circumstance, yearning for a wider sphere of usefulness, 
leave God to order all your ways. Patience and trust, in 
the dullness of the routine of life, will be the best prepara- 
tion for a courageous bearing of the tug and strain of the 
larger opportunity which God may some time send you." 

" Still are the ships that in haven ride, 

Waiting for winds or turn of tide. 

Nothing they fret, though they do not get 

Out on the glorious ocean wide. 

Oh wild hearts that yearn to be free 

Look and learn from the ships on the sea ! 

Bravely the ships in the tempest tossed 

Buffet the waves till the sea be crossed. 

Not in despair of the haven fair 

Though winds blow backward, and leagues be lost ; 

Oh weary hearts that yearn for sleep, 

Look and learn from the ships on the deep." 

26. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the 
feeble knees. — Isa. xxxv. 3. 

From every sorrow you receive in a spirit of Christian 
resignation, from every pain you bear patiently, from every 
great trial you bravely meet, there silently passes to those 
about you, strength and comfort and encouragement. 

Samuel A. Smith. 
Others shall 
Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand 
From thy hand and thy heart and thy brave cheer, 
And God's grace fructify through thee to all. 

E. B. Browning. 



JULY. 



II 7 



27. My times are in Thy hand. — Ps. xxxi. 15. 
Many a life has been injured by the constant expectation 
of death. It is life we have to do with, not death. The 
best preparation for the night is to work while the day 
lasts, diligently. The best preparation for death is life. 

George Macdonald. 
If a wondrous hand from the blue yonder 

Held out a scroll 
On which my name was writ, and I with wonder 

Beheld unroll 
To a long century's end its mystic clue, 
What should I do ? 

What could I do, O blessed Guide and Master, 

Other than this ; 
Still to go on as now, not slower, faster, 

Nor fear to miss 
The road, although so very long it be 
While led by Thee. 

Susan Coolidge. 
28. Neither shall they say : Lo here ! or Lo there ! for 
behold, the kingdom of God is within you. — Luke xvii. 21. 

Heaven is, in fact and in essence, a state of man's own 
mind, a state of love and goodness. Thus heaven is not 
so much a gift and reward after death, for good actions 
done in this life, as the necessary result of ceasing from 
evil, and cherishing good affections. Swedenborg. 
Not farther off, but farther in, 

Such is the nature of thy quest ; 
They heaven find, who heaven win, 
The one true Christ is in thy breast. 

J. W. Chadwick. 



n8 



JULY. 



29. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his good- 
ness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men ! 
— Ps. cvii. 15. 

Once let men see not things alone, but the divine light 
and life that stream through them ; and then shall every 
day open new revelations, then shall the bird upon the 
wing and the flower in the field speak to them of God. 

Dr. Dewey. 
Flowers preach to us if we will hear. 
The rose saith in the dewy morn, 

I am most fair, 
Yet all my loveliness is born 
Upon a thorn . . 
The merest grass 
Along the roadside where we pass, 

Lichen and moss and sturdy weed, 
Tell of His love who sends the dew, 
The rain and the sunshine too, 

To nourish one small seed. D. G. Rossetti. 

30. The path of the just is as the shining light, that 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day. — Prov. iv. 18. 

Happiness is reflective like the light of Heaven : and 
every countenance bright with smiles, and glowing with 
innocent enjovment, is a mirror transmitting to others the 
rays of a supreme and ever shining benevolence. 

Irving. 

Make me as one that casteth not by day 

A dreary shadow, but reflecting aye 
One little beam, loved, warm and golden, caught 

From the bright sun that lights our daily way. 

J. P. BOYNTON. 



JULY. 



II 9 



31. Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 
— Matt. viii. 19. 

Follow after Him though it may be at an immeasurable 
distance. Follow Him in His long endurance and His 
great humility. Follow Him with a bold and cheerful 
spirit in the happy and glorious victory which He won 
over sin and over death ; and in the end thou shalt find in 
Him the true communion and fellowship which he only 
can give. Dean Stanley. 

"If I find Him, if I follow, 
What his guerdon here ? 
Many a sorrow, many a labor, 

Many a tear. 
If I still hold closely to Him, 

What hath He at last ? 
Sorrow vanquished, labor ended, 
Jordan past." 



AUGUST. 



1. Thou shalt show them the way wherein they must 
walk, and the work that they must do. — Ex. xviii. 20. 

" God never put one man or one woman into the world, 
without giving each something to do in it, or for it : — some 
visible, tangible work, to be left behind them when they 
die." 

Each hath its place in the Eternal plan ; 

Heaven whispers wisdom to the wayside flower, 

Bidding it use its own peculiar dower, 

And bloom its best within its little span. 

We must each do not what we will, but can, 

Nor have we duty to exceed our power. 

To all things are marked out their place and hour. 

Thos. Burbidge. 

2. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.—* 
Prov. xvi. 32. 

" If possible, seal your lips in silence when the storm is 
rising ; shut up your anger in your own bosom and like fire 
that wants air and vent, it -will soon expire. Angry words 
often prove a fan to the spark. The subjection of our 
temper to the control of religion is a thing that must be 
done." 

Govern the lips 
As they were palace doors, the King within ; 
Tranquil and fair and courteous be all words 
Which from that presence win. 

Edwin Arnold. 

120 



AUGUST. 



121 



3. They offered the daily burnt offerings by number, 
as the duty of every day required. — Ezra iii. 4. 

Pleasant is it to entertain the picture of ourselves in 
some future scene, planning wisely, feeling nobly, and ex- 
ecuting with the holy triumph of the will ; but it is a differ- 
ent thing,— not in the green avenues of the future, but in 
the hot dust of the present moment, — to do the duty that 
waits and wants us. James Martineau. 

" I am glad to think 

I am not bound to make the wrong go right ; 
But only to discover and to do 

With cheerful heart 
The work that God appoints." 

4. For as he thinketh in his heart so is he. — Prov. 
xxiii. 7. 

As we build the holy temple for religion in our souls the 
outward evidence may add to its beauty and its grace, but 
on the inner witness does it stand or fall. 

S. A. Smith. 
In vain shall waves of incense drift 

The vaulted nave around, 
In vain the minster turret lift 

Its brazen weights of sound. 

The heart must ring thy Christmas bells, 

Thy inward altars raise, 
Its faith and hope thy canticles, 

And its obedience praise. Whittier. 
The cross on Golgotha will never save thy soul : 
The cross in thine own heart alone can make thee whole 

Silesius. 



122 



AUGUST. 



5. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he 
shall be a vessel unto honour. — 2 Ti??i. ii. 21. 

" If you desire to be great and good and efficient in 
God's cause, or in any good work, develop and train and 
prune yourself. The glory of manhood is its royal king- 
ship over the realm of self." 

True glory consists in so living as to make the world 
happier and better for our living. Pliny. 

Soul, then know thy full salvation, 
Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care ; 

Joy to find in every station 
Something still to do or bear. 

Montgomery. 

6. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both 
sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within 
the vail. — Heb. vi. 19. 

" Be patient with your pains and cares. We know it is 
easy to say, and hard to do. . . . But there is no pain or care 
that can last long. ... A little while, and you shall leave 
behind you your troubles, and forget in your first sweet 
hour of rest that such things were on earth. None of them 
shall enter the city of God." 

O rainy days ! O days of sun ! 
What are ye all when the year is done ? 
Who shall remember sun or rain ? 
O years of loss ! O joyful years ! 
What are ye when all heaven appears ? 
Who shall look back for joy or pain ? 

W. P. Foster. 



AUGUST. 



123 



7. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus. — Phil. iii. 14. 

A true Christian faith starts with the truth of a present re- 
demption and leads the man up to personal duties. It 
takes this poor indistinguishable atom and says to him : 
God knows you. To Him you are not only one of the 
race ; He knows you separately. He made you separately. 
Have you never heard of such a thing as responsibility ? 
Get up ; repent. Get the pattern of your life from God, 
and then go about your work and be yourself. 

Phillips Brooks. 

Life's waning hours, like the Sybil's page, 

As they lessen, in value rise : 
Oh ! rouse thee and live ! nor deem man's age 
Stands in the length of his pilgrimage, 

But in days that are truly wise. 

8. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. — Matt 
vii. 20. 

This one test is the true test ; I bear fruit, or I do not 
bear fruit; it is good, or it is not good. Wherever you 
find a man bearing good fruit, there, whether he may know 
it or not, you find a man united to Jesus Christ, a true 
branch of the true vine. Robert Collyer. 

Also I think that good must come of good 

And ill of evil — surely unto all — 

In every place and time — seeing sweet fruit 

Groweth from wholesome roots, and bitter things 

From poison stocks. Edwin Arnold. 



124 



AUGUST. 



9. Fear not. I will help thee. — Isa. xli. 15. 

The burden of suffering seems a tombstone hung about 
our necks, while in reality, it is only the weight which is 
necessary to keep down the diver while he is hunting for 
pearls. Richter. 

" I cannot say 
Beneath the pressure of life's cares to-day, 

I joy in these. 

But I can say 
That I had rather walk this rugged way, 

If Him it please. 

" I cannot feel 
That all is well when darkening clouds conceal 

The shining sun, 

But then I know 
God lives and loves and say since this is so, 

Thy will be done." 

10. Ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the 
left. — Deut. v. 32. 

Set out in the very morning of your lives with a frank 
and manly determination to look simply for what is right 

and true in all things This is the only way to 

know God's will and do it. You may not find it at once, 
but you have set your face in the true direction to find it. 

J. J. Tayloe. 

I will look straight out — 

See things — not try to evade them. 

Fact shall be fact for me, and the truth the truth forever. 

A. H. Clough. 



AUGUST. 



I2 5 



11. Serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing 
mind. — I Chron. xxviii. 9. 

" How often do we sigh for opportunities of doing good 
whilst we neglect the openings of Providence, in little 
things, which would frequently lead to the accomplishment 
of most important usefulness ! He who waits to do a 
great deal of good at once, will never do any! Good is 
done by degrees." 

Waste not so much time in weighing 
When and where thou shalt begin; 
Too much thinking is delaying, 
Rivets but the chains of sin. 
He will help thee and provide thee 

With a courage not thine own, 
Bear thee in his arms, and guide thee, 
Till thou learnst to walk alone. 

Spitta. 

12. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 
— Matt v. 30. 

The very little things, the microscopical helpings, often 
seem most marvelous of all, when we consider that it was 
Jehovah Himself who stooped to the tiny need of the mo- 
ment. F. R. Havergal. 
" Therefore, our Heavenly Father, 

We will not fear to pray 
For the little needs and longings 
That fill our every day. 

For His great love hath compassed 

Our nature, and our need 
We know not ; but He knoweth, 

And He will bless indeed." 



126 



AUGUST. 



13. Ye are complete in him, which is the head of all 
principality and power. — Cor. ii. to. 

We rejoice in life because it seems to be carrying us 
somewhere ; because its darkness seems to be rolling on 
towards light, and even its pain to be moving onward to a 
hidden joy. We bear with incompleteness, because of the 
completion which is prophesied and hoped for. 

Phillips Brooks. 

Nothing resting in its own completeness 

Can have worth or beauty ; but alone 
Because it tends and leads to further sweetness, 

Fuller, higher, deeper than its own. 
Dare not blame God's gifts for incompleteness ; 

In that want their beauty lies ; they roll 
Towards some infinite depth of love and sweetness 

Bearing onward man's reluctant soul. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 

14. The length and the breadth and the height of it are 
equal. — Rev. xxi. 16. 

The life which to its length and breadth, adds height, 
which to its personal ambition and sympathy with man, 
adds the love and obedience of God, completes itself into 
the cube of the eternal city, and is the life complete. 

Phillips Brooks. 

" Give us whereby to glorify 
This daily work and care, 
Building our temples to the Lord 
After the heavenly house on high, 
Where the city lies four-square." 



AUGUST. 



127 



15. We beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more 
and more ; and that ye study to be quiet. — 1 Thess. iv. 
10. 11. 

The maelstrom attracts more notice than the quiet 
fountain ; a comet draws more attention than the steady 
star ; but it is better to be the fountain than the maelstrom, 
and star than comet, following out the sphere and orbit of 
quiet usefulness in which God places us. 

John Hall. 

Ceaseless aspiring, 

Ceaseless content, 
Darkness or sunshine 

Thy element ; — 

Glorious fountain ! 

Let my heart be 
Fresh, changeful, constant, 

Upward, like thee ! Lowell. 

16. Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud. — Ex. xix. 9. 
" Sorrows are often like clouds, which, though black 

when they are passing over us, when they are past, become 
as if they were the garments of God, thrown off in purple 
and gold along the sky." 

Never a cloud o'erhung the day 
And flung its shadows down, 
But on its heaven-side gleamed some ray, 
Forming a sunshine crown. 

It is dark only on the downward side : 

Though rage the tempest loud, 
And scatter its terrors far and wide, 

There's light upon the cloud. 

M. J. Savage. 



128 



AUGUST. 



17. Quicken me in thy righteousness. — Ps. cxix. 40. 
To hear always, to think always, to learn always, it is 

thus that we live truly. He who aspires to nothing, who 
learns nothing, is not worthy of living. 

Arthur Helps. 
" Seize then the minutes as they pass ; the woof of life is 
thought ; 

Warm up the colors, let them glow by fire or fancy fraught. 
Live to some purpose, make thy life a gift of use to thee, — 
A joy, a good, a golden hope, a heavenly argosy." 

18. So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. — 
Ps. cvii. 30. 

This is Christian progress. . . . Many a fluctuation, 
many a backward motion : — but if the Eternal work be 
real — every failure has been a real gain. . . . Both 
when we advance and when we fail, we gain. We are 
nearer to God than we were. F. W. Robertson. 

" So ! " — by small, slow footsteps, 

By the daily cross, 
By the heart's unspoken yearning, 

By its grief and loss : 
So, He brings them home to rest, 
With the victors, crowned and blessed. 

u So ! " — oh weary pilgrim, 

'Tis the Master's way, 
And it leadeth surely, surely, 

Unto endless day ! 
Doubt not, fear not — gladly go ; 
He will bring thee heavenward so / 

J. M. Harrison. 



AUGUST. 



129 



19. Brethren, the time is short. — 1 Cor. vii. 29. 

This fact is no dreary shadow hanging above our heads, 
and shutting out the sunshine. It is an everlasting inspi- 
ration. It makes a man put his heart into the heart of the 
career which he knows to be his. It makes the emotions 
and experiences of life great and not petty to him. 

Phillips Brooks. 
The time is short ; the more the reason then 

For filling it as full as it can hold 
With thrills of beauty, yearnings for the truths, 

And joys of love and labor manifold. 
Then should it chance as we would fain believe 

Life's glory waits us in some other sphere, 
The first great joy shall be we did not miss 
God's meaning in the glory that is here. 

J. W. Chad wick. 

20. Not slothful in business ; fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord. — Rom. xii. 11. 

" Make the best of yourself. Watch, and plant and sow. 
Falter not, faint not ! Perhaps you cannot bear such 
lordly fruit, nor yet such rare, rich flowers as others ; but 
what of that ? Bear the best you can. 'Tis all God asks." 
" Teach me to live ! No idler let me be, 
But in thy service hand and heart employ ; 
Prepare to do thy bidding cheerfully : 
Be this my highest and my holiest joy." 

But blessings are not free : they do not fall 
In listless hands ; by toil the soul must prove 
Its steadfast purpose master over all. 

Bayard Taylor. 



AUGUST. 



21. When I am weak, then am I strong. — 2 Cor. xii. 10. 
Is not this the law of life, that the fineness and strength 

essential to our best being, and to make us do our best 
work, come by the hammer and the fire ? By the thorn in 
the flesh, the trouble and pain in our life which may act 
in us as the fire acts in the iron, welding the fibre afresh 
and creating the whole anew into our good works. 

Robert Collyer. 

" Tis alone of His appointing 

That our feet on thorns have trod ; 

Suffering, pain, renunciation, 
Only bring us nearer God." 

22. Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of 
God. Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the 
wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge ? — 
Job xxxvii. 14, 16. 

We shall find that the love of Nature, wherever it has 
existed, has been a faithful and sacred element of human 
feeling ; that is to say, supposing all circumstances other- 
wise the same with respect to two individuals, the one who 
loves Nature most will be always found to have more faith 
in God than the other. Ruskin. 

Cease, cease to think, and be content to be ; 

Swing safe at anchor in fair Nature's bay ; 
Reason no more, but o'er thy quiet soul 

Let God's sweet teachings ripple their soft way. 

H. B. Stowe. 



AUGUST. 



23. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor : therefore 
love is the fulfilling of the law. — Rom. xiii. 10. 

A more glorious victory cannot be gained over another 
man than this, — that, when the injury began on his part, 
the kindness should begin on ours. Tillotson. 

" Be noble ! and the nobleness that lies 
In other men, sleeping, but never dead, 
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own." 

24. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of any man, the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love Him. — 1 Cor. ii. 9. 

" It is the heaven within us, and not the one above us> 
that the apostle would here unfold. To be with God, in 
whatever stage of being, under whatever conditions of ex- 
istence, is to be in heaven." 

And wherefore should I seek above 

The City in the sky? 
Since firm in faith and deep in love 

Its broad foundations lie ? 

Since in a life of peace and prayer, 
Nor known on earth, nor praised, 

By humblest toil, by ceaseless care, 
Its holy towers are raised ? 

Where pain the soul hath purified, 

And penitence hath shriven, 
And truth is crowned and glorified, 

There — only there — is heaven ! 

Eliza Scudder. 



132 



AUGUST. 



25. In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. — Ps. xxxi. 1. 
Rejoice, O my soul, in that minute and intimate 

knowledge of thyself, thy needs, thy dangers, that con- 
strains thy Lord not to deal with thee as with any other ; 
now to give thee more, and then to give thee far less. 
Never question the wisdom of His will ; only watch lest in 
anything small or great thou shouldst frustrate the grace 
of God. S. F. Smiley. 

O foolish heart, be still ! 

And vex thyself no more ! 
"Wait thou for God, until 

He open pleasure's door. 
Thou knowest not what is good for thee, 

But God doth know ; — 
Let Him thy strong reliance be, 
And rest thee so. C. F. Gellert. 

26. For we are labourers together with God : ye are 
God's husbandry, ye are God's building. If any man's 
work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive 
a reward. — 1 Cor. iii. 9, 14. 

Out of the common stones of your daily work, you may 
build yourself a temple which shall shelter your head from 
all harm, and bring down on you the inspiration of God. 

Theodore Parker. 

Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mould and 
chisel and complete a character. Goethe. 

O, block by block, with sore and sharp endeavor, 
Lifelong we build these human natures up 
Into a temple fit for freedom's shrine. 

Bayard Taylor. 



AUGUST. 



133 



27. It is good to be zealously affected always in a good 
thing. — Gal. iv. 18. 

Find your purpose and fling your life out to it ; and the 
loftier your purpose is, the more sure you will be to make 
the world richer with every enrichment of yourself. 

Phillips Brooks. 
Early hath life's mighty question 

Thrilled within thy heart of youth, 
With a deep and strong beseeching,— 
What, and where, is truth ? 

Not to ease and aimless quiet 

Doth the inward answer tend ; 
But to works of love and duty, 

As our being's end. Whittier. 

28. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and 
that the spirit of God dwell eth in you ? — 1 Cor. iii. 16. 

If you were a statue of Phidias you would remember 
both yourself and the artist, and you would endeavor to 
be in no way unworthy of Him who formed you, nor of 
yourself. And are you now careless how you appear, 
when you are the workmanship of God himself ? 

Epictetus. 

In the elder days of Art 

Builders wrought with greatest care 

Each minute and unseen part, 
For the Gods see everywhere. 

Let us do our work as well, 

Both the unseen and the seen, 
Make the house where God may dwell, 

Beautiful, entire, and clean. 

Longfellow. 



134 



AUGUST. 



29. I will lead them in paths that they have not known. 
— Isa, xlii. 16. 

God gives to each a varied experience. We march not 
in serried numbers to conquer a common foe, but He leads 
us through separate paths, each one to struggle with his 
own adversary alone, that, when the victory is gained, and 
the crown is won, each shall have in it a leaf or a chaplet 
which is unlike any other, so that all together may reflect 
every possible hue of the Divine loveliness. 

E. H. Sears. 

Just as God leads, I onward go, 

Oft amid thorns and briers keen ; 
God does not yet His guidance show; 

But in the end it shall be seen, 
How, by a loving Father's will, 

Faithful and true, He leads me still. 

Lampertus. 

30. Now is the accepted time. — 2 Cor. vi. 2. 

" There never was a day that did not bring its opportu- 
nity for doing good that never could have been done before, 
and never can be again. It must be improved then or 
never." 

The present hour allots thy task ; 
For present strength and patience ask, 
And trust His love whose sure supplies 
Meet all thy needs as they arise. 

While the day lingers, do thy best ; 
Full soon the night will bring its rest ; 
And duty done, that rest shall be 
Full of beatitudes to thee. 

W. H. Burleigh. 



AUGUST. 



*35 



31. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly 
love ; in honour preferring one another. — Rom, xii. 10. 

When Death, the great Reconciler has come, it is never 
our tenderness we repent of, but our severity. 

George Eliot. 
How does Death speak of our beloved, 
When it has laid them low, 
When it has set its hallowing touch 
On speechless lips and brow? 

It clothes their every gift and grace 
With radiance from the holiest place 
With light as from an angel's face ; 

It sweeps their faults with heavy hand, 
As sweeps the sea the trampled sand, 
Till scarce the faintest point is scanned. 

Thus does Death speak of our beloved, 
When it has laid them low ; 
Then let Love antedate the work of Death 
And do this now. 

Mrs. Charles. 



SEPTEMBER. 



1. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
reap. — Gal. vi. 7. 

Thy deeds now are the seed corn of eternity. Each sin- 
gle act on each several day, good or bad, is a portion of 
that seed. Each day adds some line, making thee more 
or less like Him, more or less capable of his Love, fitter 
for greater or less glory, to be nearer Him or to be less 
near. Dr. Pusey. 

Sow truth, if thou the truth wouldst reap ; 

Who sows the false, shall reap the vain. 
Erect and sound thy conscience keep ; 

From hollow words and deeds refrain. 

Fill up each hour with what will last ; 

Buy up the moments as they go ; 
The life above when this is past, 

Is the ripe fruit of life below. BoNAR. 

2. Wilt thou not revive us again. — Ps. lxxxv. 6. 

Do not be disturbed because of your imperfections, and 
always rise up bravely from a fall. I am glad that you 
make a daily new beginning ; there is no better means of 
progress in the spiritual life than to be continually begin- 
ning afresh. Francis de Sales. 
Every day is a fresh beginning 
Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain, 

And spite of old sorrow, and older sinning, 
And puzzles forecasted, and possible pain, 
Take heart with the day, and begin again." 
136 



SEPTEMBER. 



137 



3. Behold what manner of love the Father hath be- 
stowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. 
— 1 John iii. 1. 

Do you know who you are ? From that larger world 
for which we are born comes this summons to our slum- 
bering spiritual nature. Do we feel no deep inward stir- 
ring as we hear that high calling ? We are children of 
the King! If children, then heirs. Fear not: it is our 
Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom. 

Charles G. Ames. 

" O Thou, whom we are taught in faith to call 
Our Father, glad in our dear right we come 

With mind, with soul, with spirit, bringing all 
To learn accord with Thee, life's perfect sum ; 
Not as a slave, but as Thy child, we hear 
Thy voice, and find in perfect love, no fear." 

4. To him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure re- 
ward. — Prov. xi. 18. 

" No thought, no word, no act of man ever dies. They 
are as immortal as his own soul. Somewhere in this world 
he will meet their fruits in part ; somewhere in the future 
life he will meet their gathered harvest." 

" Far in the distant years some deed of beauty 
Hath struck the key-note of a bold refrain, 

And many a noble act and high-souled duty 
Led on the lofty strain. 

Ah! glad the gathering when our time is ended 
Of all the influence that one life hath cast ; 

The souls that through such earnest words have tended 
Upward to heaven at last." 



SEPTEMBER. 



5. For who hath despised the day of small things ? — 
Zech. iv. 10. 

Life is not made up of great sacrifices of duties, but of 
little things, of which smiles and kindness and small obli- 
gations given habitually, are what win and preserve the 
heart. Sir Humphrey Davy. 

What can I do the cause of God to aid ? 
Can powers so weak as mine 
Forward the great design ? 
Not by young hands are mighty efforts made, 
But all can aid the work. The little child 
May gather up some weed, » 
Or drop some fertile seed, 
Or strew with flowers the path which else were dark 
and wild. J. H. Clinch. 

6. My father, thou art the guide of my youth. — Jer, 
iii. 4. 

We want a guide who knows us, whether we be self- 
willed and over-confident, or despondent and over-sensi- 
tive, — who knows our frame and pities us, is not vexed with 
our ignorance and mistakes, but is tender toward us and 
patient. We want a guide who values character, and 
knows how to train while he guides. What better guide 
could we have than God? D. T. Woolsey. 

" He leads us on 
Through all the unquiet years; 
Past all our dreamland hopes and doubts and fears 
. . . He guides our steps. Through all the tangled maze 
Of sin and sorrow and o'erclouded days 

We know His will is done ; 

And still He leads us on." 



SEPTEMBER. 



139 



7. Order my steps in thy word. — Ps. cxix. 133. 

Every attempt to make others happy, every sin left be- 
hind, every temptation trampled under foot, every step for- 
ward in the cause of what is good, is a step nearer the 
cause of Christ. Dean Stanley. 

I count this thing to be grandly true : 
That a noble deed is a step toward God, 
Lifting the soul from the common sod 
To a purer air and a broader view. 

Heaven is not reached by a single bound, 
But we build the ladder by which we rise 
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
And we mount to its summit, round by round. 

J. G. Holland. 

8. Thou, O Lord, knowest me. — Jer. xii. 3. 

Every man who lives in the habitual practice of any 
voluntary sin cuts himself off from Christianity. 

Addison. 
" Think that He thy ways beholdeth ; 

He unfoldeth 
Every fault that lurks within, 
Every stain of shame glossed over 

Can discover, 
And discern each deed of sin." 

Abide in me ; o'ershadow by Thy love 
Each half-formed purpose and dark thought of sin; 
Quench, ere it rise, each selfish, low desire, 
And keep my soul as Thine, calm and divine. 

H. B. Stowe. 



140 



SEPTEMBER. 



9. The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is 
our refuge. — Ps. xlvi. 7. 

Every passing event gets a noble value from the assur- 
ance it gives us of God. This is the only real transfigura- 
tion of the dusty road, of the monotony and routine of liv- 
ing. It is all bright and beautiful, if in it ail, God is giving 
us that certainty of Himself, by which we shall be fit to 
meet everything that we shall have to meet in this world 
and the world to come. Phillips Brooks. 

" For the hidden scroll o'erwritten with one dear name 
adored, — 

For the Heavenly in the human, the Spirit in the Word, — 
For the tokens of Thy presence, within, above, abroad, — 
For Thine own great gift of being, I thank Thee, O my 
God." 

10. How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! — 
Ps. xxxvi. 7. 

There are questions which nothing can answer but God's 
love, which nothing can meet but God's promise, which 
nothing can calm but a perfect trust in his goodness. 
There is shadow and mystery upon all the creation until we 
see God in it, — there is trouble and fear until we see God's 
love in it. Dr. Dewey. 

Deep at the heart of all our pain, 
In loss as surely as in gain, 

His love abideth still. 
Let come what will, my feet shall stand 
On this firm rock, at His right hand ; 

" Father, it is thy will." 

J. W. Chad wick. 



SEPTEMBER. 



141 



11. Learn first to show piety at home, ... for that 
is good and acceptable before God. — 1 Tim. v. 4. 

Who shall estimate the virtue, what tongue shall spread 
the power of home influence ? It is the chisel which graves 
deep and lasting inscriptions on the character. It gives 
shape to the plastic clay of human feeling, moulding it for 
eternity. God has given a mighty trust to them who cluster 
around the fireside of home. M. J. Bishop. 

God hides Himself within the love 

Of those whom we love best ; 

The smiles and tones that make our homes 

Are shrines by Him possessed. 

W. C. Gannett. 

12. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, 
it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 
— John xii. 24. 

The higher must always come through the loss and death 
of the lower. Manhood can only be gained by the giving 
up of childhood. If the office and life-work are ever to be 
reached, the nursery must be left behind. The blossom 
must die before there can be fruit. M. J. Savage. 
To-day is but a structure built 

Upon dead yesterday ; 
And Progress hews her temple-stones 

From wrecks of old decay. 
Then mourn not death ; 'tis but a stair 

Built with divinest art, 
Up which the deathless footsteps climb 
Of loved ones who depart. 

M. J. Savage. 



142 



SEPTEMBER. 



13. O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? 
— Matt. xiv. 31. 

Every " kept from " should have its corresponding and 
still more blessed " kept for." F. R. Havergal. 

A dewdrop falling on the wild sea wave, 
Exclaimed in fear, " I perish in this grave ! " 
But in a shell received, that drop of dew 
Into a pearl of marvellous beauty grew, 
And happy now, the grace did magnify 
Which thrust it forth, as it had feared, to die; 
Until again, " I perish quite," it said, 
Torn by a rude diver from its ocean bed. 
Oh unbelieving ! So it came to gleam 
Chief jewel in a monarch's diadem. 

From the Persian. 

14. That he would grant you, according to the riches of 
his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in 
the inner man. — Eph. iii. 16. 

Whenever we attempt to approach God, we must do so 
with all the earnestness which is at our command ; nay, 
with more than we can actually command, with all that we 
can obtain from God, who, if we ask Him, will ever help 
to prepare His own sacrifice, and who does, in fact, aid 
every prayer, e'er He accepts it. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 
O dull of heart ! enclosed doth lie 
In each " Come, Lord," an " Here am I." 
Thy love, thy longing, are not thine, 
Reflections of a love divine ; 
Thy very prayer to thee was given, 
Itself a messenger from heaven. 

R. C. Trench. 



SEPTEMBER. 



143 



15. A sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. — Phil. 
iv. 18. 

" The noblest end of life is to live for the service of 
God. And everything is His service, by which we can be 
or give a blessing to another." 

Never are kind acts done 

To wipe the weeping eyes, 
But like flashes of the sun 

They signal to the skies ; 
And up above the angels read 
How we have helped the sorer neecL 

Never a day is given, 

But it tones the after years, 
And it carries up to heaven 

Its sunshine or its tears ; 
While the to-morrows stand and wait, 
The silent mutes by the outer gate. 

Henry Burton. 

16. Search me, O God, and know my heart : try me, 
and know my thoughts : And see if there be any wicked 
ways in me. — Ps. cxxxix 23, 24. 

The Lord always does His own work thoroughly, if we 
will only let Him do it ; if we put our case into His hands, 
He will search and probe fully and firmly, though very 
tenderly. F. R. Havergal. 

" Great Sculptor ! hew and polish us, nor let 
Hidden and lost, Thy form within us lie. 
Spare not the stroke ; do with us as Thou wilt; 
Let there be naught unfurnished, broken, marred ; 
Complete Thy purpose that we may become 
Thy perfect image, O our God and Lord." 



144 



SEPTEMBER. 



17. He shall quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit 
that dwelleth in you. — Rom. viii. n. 

Oh ! my friends, if there be nothing celestial without 
us, it is only because all is earthly within ; ... if our 
Father seems distant, it is because we have taken our por- 
tion of goods and travelled into a far country, that we may 
foolishly enjoy, rather than reverently serve. 

James Martineau. 

In finding Thee are all things round us found, 
In losing Thee are all things lost beside ; 

Ears have we, but in vain sweet voices sound, 
And to our eyes the vision is denied. 

Open our eyes that we that world may see, 
Open our ears that we Thy voice may hear, 

And in the spirit land may ever be, 

And feel Thy presence with us always near. 

Jones Very. 

18. For thou renderest to every man according to his 
work. — Ps. lxii. 12. 

Dreams pass ; work remains. They tell us that not a 
sound has ever ceased to vibrate through space ; that not 
a ripple has ever been lost upon the ocean. Much more 
is it true that not a true thought nor a pure resolve, nor a 
loving act has ever gone forth in vain. 

F. W. Robertson. 
" For no one doth know 
What he can bestow, 
What strength, light and beauty may after him go : 
Thus onward we move, 
And save God above 
None guesseth how wondrous the journey may prove." 



SEPTEMBER. 



US 



19. Behold we are in thine hand ; as it seemeth good 
and right unto thee to do unto us, do. — Josh. ix. 25. 

Everything which befalls us is part of our heaven and 
education. Every event and condition of life is a lesson 
which is to be turned to account to make us. more worthy 
of Him who by suffering was made perfect, who Himself 
entered not into joy until first He had suffered pain. 

Dean Stanley. 

I would not have my life go on, 

A level stretch from sun to sun, 

And miss the glorious sights I get 

From Calvary and Olivet. 

These rugged paths that wound my feet, 

These tribulations that I meet, 

Are stepping-stones by which I climb 

To glories endless and sublime. 

Josephine Pollard. 

20. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the 
Lord looketh on the heart. — 1 Sam. xvi. 7. 

In the sight of God, greatness does not depend upon the 
extent of the sphere that is filled, or the amount of effect 
that may be produced ; but altogether on the power of vir- 
tue in the soul ; in the energy with which God's will is 
performed, with which trials are borne, and goodness 
loved and pursued. W. E. Channing. 

It is not the deed that we do, 

Though the deed be never so fair, 
But the love that the dear Lord looketh for 
Hidden with holy care 
In the heart of the deed so fair. 

H. M. Kimball. 



146 



SEPTEMBER. 



21. But godliness is profitable unto all things, having 
promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to 
come. — 1 Tim. iv. 8. 

Man's actions here are of infinite moment to him and 
never die or end at all ; man with his little life, reaches up- 
wards high as heaven, downwards low as hell, and in his 
threescore years of time holds an eternity fearfully and 
wonderfully hidden. Carlyle. 

" A few short years — and then 

What of our life remains, 
The smiles and tears of other years, 

Of passion's joys, of sorrow's pains, 
Ambition's hopes and fears ? 

A faded dream 

To-day they seem, 
Which memory scarce can trace. 

But seals they've set 

Shall Time, nor yet 

Eternity efface." 

22. In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. — Ps. lxxi. 1. 
In order to see into mankind, into life, and still more, 

into ourselves, suffering is requisite. Richter. 

" Why is the sun more bright for rain, 
Why does night bring forth the day, 
Why do souls grow strong through pain ? 
'Tis God's way. 

" Him to trust though sunbeams fail, 
Him to love though loves decay, 
Him to see behind the veil, 
Be my way." 



SEPTEMBER. 



147 



23. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. — Prov. 
xvii. 22. 

" In this world, where there is so much real sorrow, and 
so much unnecessary grief of fret and worry, how grateful 
ought we to be that God sends along, here and there, a 
a natural heart-singer, who by his very carriage and spon- 
taneous actions, calms, cheers and helps his fellows. God 
bless the good-natured, for they bless everybody else." 

" Be more cheerful ; do not worry : 

There is time enough to do 

Every day the daily duties 

That your Father sendeth you, 

And to find some little moments 

For heart music fresh and new.'* 

24. I am . . thy exceeding great reward.- Gen. xv. 1. 
A great part of this earthly tuition and discipline is not 

more to work out the evil that is in us, than to prepare us 
to receive what God has in readiness to give us. God is 
an imposer of duties ; yes, but beyond that, He is the re- 
warder of those who diligently seek Him. 

Theodore Munger. 
Out of the strain of the Doing, 
Into the peace of the Done ; 
Out of the thirst of Pursuing/ 

Into the rapture of Won ; 
Out of gray mist into brightness, 
Out of pale dusk into dawn, — 
Out of all wrong into rightness, 

We from these fields shall be gone. 
" Nay," say the saints, " not gone, but come, 
Into eternity's ' Harvest Home ! ' " 

W. M. L. Jay. 



148 



SEPTEMBER. 



25. The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will 
we obey. — Joshua xxiv. 24. 

Obedience must be the struggle and desire of our life ; 
obedience not hard and forced, but ready, loving and spon- 
taneous ; . . . the doing of duty not merely that the 
duty may be done, but that the soul in doing it may become 
capable of receiving and uttering God. 

Phillips Brooks. 
My blessed task for every day, 
Is humbly, gladly, to obey. 

And though I daily, hourly, fail 
To bring my task to Him complete, 

And must with constant tears bewail 
My failures at my Master's feet, 
No other service would I ask, 
Than this my blessed, blessed task. 

H. M. Kimball. 

26. Know ye not, that a little leaven leaveneth the 
whole lump. — 1 Cor. v. 6. 

Each of us is bound to make the little circle in which he 
lives better and happier; each of us is bound to see that 
out of that small circle the widest good may flow; . . 
that out of a single household may flow influences which 
shall stimulate the whole commonwealth and the whole 
civilized world. Dean Stanley. 

Our many deeds, the thoughts that we have thought, 
They go out from us thronging every hour ; 
And in them all is folded up a power 
That on the earth doth move them to and fro ; 
And mighty are the marvels they have wrought 
In hearts we know not and may never know. 

F. W. Faber, 



SEPTEMBER. 



149 



27. But godliness with contentment is great gain. — 
I Tim. vi. 6. 

Never fancy you could be something if only you had a 
different lot and sphere assigned to you. The very things 
that you most deprecate, as fatal limitations or obstruc- 
tions are probably what you most want. What you call 
hindrances, obstacles, discouragements, are probably God's 
opportunities. Horace Bushnell. 

" Despise not thou small things ; 
The soul that longs for wings 
To soar to some great height of sacrifice, too oft 
Forgets the daily round, 
Where little cares abound, 
And shakes off little duties while she looks aloft." 

28. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of 
him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace. — 
Is. lii. 7. 

May every step of our feet be more and more like those 
of our beloved Master. Let us continually consider Him 
in this, and go where He would have gone, on the errands 
which He would have done," following hard" after Him. 

F. R. Havergal. 
And He hath said " How beautiful the feet ! 
The feet so weary, travel-stained and worn — 
The feet that humbly, patiently have borne 
The toilsome way, the pressure and the heat. 

With weary human feet, He, day by day, 
Once trod this earth to work His acts of love 
And every step is chronicled above 
His servants take to follow in His way. " 

L. G. Stock. 



SEPTEMBER. 



29. If any man do his will, he shall know of the doc- 
trine. — John vii. 17. 

We are bound to obey the truth, and that to the full 
extent of our knowledge thereof, however little that may 
be. This obligation acknowledged and obeyed, the road 
is open to all truth — and the only road. The way to 
know is to do the known. George MacDonald. 
Open thy door straightway, and get thee hence ; 
Go forth into the tumult and the shout ; 
Work, love, with workers, lovers, all about : 
Of noise alone is born the inward sense 
Of silence ; and from action springs alone 
The inward knowledge of true love and faith. 

George MacDonald. 

30. Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
w r orld. — Matt, xxviii. 20. 

Let thought and feeling be hallowed by the knowledge 
that you are the child of God, and called to be His servant 
from change to change. Live from one varied scene to 
another as if you felt the presence of Him who is with you 
always, even to the end of the world. 

Stopford Brooke. 
Abide in me, there have been moments blest 

When I have heard thy voice and felt thy power; 
Then evil lost its grasp, and passion hushed, 
Owned the divine enchantment of the hour. 

These were but seasons, beautiful and rare ; 

Abide in me and they shall ever be. 
Fulfil at once thy precept and my prayer, 

Come, and abide in me, and I in thee. 

Julia Ward Howe. 



OCTOBER. 

1. Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in 
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 
— i Tim. iv. 12. 

Beyond all wealth, honor, or even health, is the attach- 
ment we form to noble souls ; because to become one with 
the good, generous and true, is to become in a measure, 
good, generous and true ourselves. Dr. Arnold. 

Whene'er a noble deed is wrought, 

Whene'er is spoken a noble thought 

Our hearts in glad surprise 

To higher levels rise. 

The tidal wave of deeper souls 

Into our inmost being rolls 

And lifts us unawares 

Out of all meaner cares. Longfellow. 

2. My grace is sufficient for thee. — 2 Cor. xii. 9. 

The meaning of life, of its happiness and its sorrows, of 
its successes and its disappointments, is this — that man 
must be fastened close to God, and live by the divine life 
not his own, by the divine life made his own by the close 
binding of the two together by faith and love. 

Phillips Brooks. 
To be made with Thee one spirit 
Is the boon that I lingering ask, 
To have no bar 'twixt my soul and Thine ; 
My thoughts to echo Thy will divine ; 
Myself Thy servant for any task. 
Life ! Life ! I may enter through Thee, the Door, 
Saved, sheltered forevermore. Lucy Larcom. 
151 



OCTOBER. 



3. He being dead, yet speaketh. — Heb. xi. 4. 
Oh, what manner of men should we be in life when we 
think of all that we shall do when we are dead ! Being 
dead, you will speak ; what sort will be your speech ? 

. . . Let your works follow you with inspiring 
power, speak from the grave to comfort, kindle and re- 
deem. Stopford Brooke. 
Like rills on the mountains together that run, 

And make the great river below, 
So each little life, and the work of each one 

To one common current shall flow. 
And borne on each wave, like ships on the tide, 

The lives of mankind shall move on ; 
Nor in vain have we lived, nor in vain have we died, 
If we live in the work we have done. 

F. L. Hosmer. 
4. In her tongue is the law of kindness. — Prov. 
xxxi. 26. 

Always say a kind word if you can, if only that it may 
come in perhaps, with singular opportuneness, entering 
some mournful man's darkened room like a beautiful fire- 
fly, whose happy convolutions he cannot but watch, forget- 
ting his many troubles. Arthur Helps. 
It may be glorious to write 

Thoughts that shall glad the two or three 
High souls like those far stars that come in sight 

Once in a century : — 
But better far it is to speak 

One simple word, which now and then 
Shall waken their free natures in the weak 
And friendless sons of men. Lowell. 



OCTOBER. 



!S3 



5. Singing and making melody in your heart to the 
Lord. — Eph. v. 19. 

A good conscience is a great soul-harmony 

And the rich notes of that inner melody are filling its 
possessor with their own joy, so that he cares not for accu- 
sations, or poverty, or discomforts from without, so long 
as his true conscience is so voiceful with happy harmony 
within. Frederick Brooks. 

There are in this loud, stunning tide 

Of human care and crime 

With whom the melodies abide 

Of the everlasting chime. 

Who carry music in their heart, 
Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, 
Plying their daily task with busier feet 
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat. 

Keble. 

6. The Lord sustained me. — Ps. iii. 5. 

It is a great truth, wonderful as it is undeniable, that all 
our happiness, temporal, spiritual and eternal, consists in 
one thing, namely, in resigning ourselves to God, and in 
leaving ourselves with Him to do with us, and in us, just 
as He pleases. Madame Guyon. 

" Make a little fence of trust 

Around to-day ; 
Fill the space with loving work 

And therein stay. 
Look not through the sheltering bars 

Upon to-morrow, 
God will help thee bear what comes 
Of joy or sorrow." 



I 



154 OCTOBER. 

7. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation : for 
when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which 
the Lord hath promised to them that love him. — James 
i. 12. 

The greatest hero is perhaps the man who does his very 
best and signally fails, and yet is not embittered by his 
failure. A life here in which you fail of every end you 
seek, yet which disciplines you for a better, is assuredly 
not a failure. 

I will go forth 'mong men not mailed in scorn, 
But in the armor of a pure intent ; 
Great duties are before me, and great songs, 
And whether crowned or crownless when I fall, 
It matters not, so as God's work is done. 

Alexander Smith. 

8. Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the 
work of the Lord. — 1 Cor. xv. 58. 

The world's advance is due only to the hopes, the plans, 
the prayers, and the work of living men and women who 
have tasted of the water of life for themselves, and know 
what it is to live, and are determined that the rest of the 
world shall have life more abundantly, as Jesus Christ 
himself has promised. E. E. Hale. 

For this is Love's nobility, — 
Not to scatter bread and gold, 
Goods and raiment bought and sold, 
But to hold fast his simple sense 
And speak the speech of innocence, 

For he that feeds men serveth few ; 

He serves all who dares be true. Emerson, 



OCTOBER. 



9. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. — Ps, 
xcii. 14. 

" When old age comes, what then ? The preparation 
for it is a pure life, and faithfulness to duty now. First of 
all, try to make the best of it ; not the best of what is bad 
at the best, but of what is, if I will but understand it, the 
best of my whole life, because it is the last." 

"Grow old, then, cheerily ; 
The best is yet to be 
The last of life, for which the first was made." 

The soul to God's heart moving on, 

Owns but the Infinite for home ; 
Whatever with the past has gone 

The last best is always yet to come. 

Lucy Larcom. 

10. That we may grow up into him in all things, which 
is the head, even Christ. — Eph. iv. 15. 

Draw strength for little duties and for great duties from 
Christ. Do not feel as if His strength is not needed until 
some great crisis comes, but draw upon it daily in the 
smaller difficulties of life, in the daily trials of character, 
in the preparations for greater things. 

T. D. Woolsey. 

God keep us through the common days, 

The level stretches, white with dust, 
When thought is tired, and hands upraise 
Their burdens feebly, since they must. 
In days of slowly fretting care, 
Then most we need the strength of prayer. 

Margaret E. Sangster. 



OCTOBER. 



it. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be 
comforted. — Matt. v. 4. 

" But I know God hears the sobs in the dark, and the 
dropping tears." 

All who walk steep ways, in grief and night, 

Where every step is full of toil and pain, 
May see when they have gained the sharpest height, 

It has not been in vain, 
Since they have left behind the noise and heat, 

And though their eyes drop tears, their sight is clear, 
The air is purer, and the breeze is sweet, 

And the blue heaven more near. E. A. Allen. 

12. Not knowing the things that shall befall me there. 
— Acts xx. 22. 

" Waste not your time in fears and thoughts of the fu- 
ture in this world. To you the future may be short. The 
things you most fear will probably never disturb you. If 
evils come, they will probably be such as no foresight of 
man can anticipate." 

I see not a step before me, as I tread the days of the year, 
But the past is still in God's keeping, the future His mercy 
shall clear, 

And what looks dark in the distance may brighten as I 
draw near. 

My heart shrinks back from trials which the future may 
disclose, 

Yet I never had a sorrow but what the dear Lord chose ; 
So I send the coming tears back with the whispered word 
He knows.- 



OCTOBER. 



157 



13. Honour all men. — 1 Peter ii. 17. 

" There is no life so humble that if it be true and genu- 
inely human and obedient to God, it may not hope to shed 
some of His light. There is no life so meagre that the 
greatest and wisest of us can afford to despise it. We 
cannot know at what moment it may flash forth with the 
life of God." 

" A commonplace life," we say, and we sigh ; 

But why should we sigh as we say ? 
The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky 

Makes up the commonplace day. 
The moon and the stars are commonplace things, 
And the flower that blooms and the bird that sings ; 
But dark were the world, and sad our lot 
If the flowers failed, and the sun shone not ; 
And God, who studies each separate soul 
Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole. 

Susan Coolidge. 

14. Let a man examine himself. — 1 Cor. xi. 28. 

In the morning fix thy good purpose ; and at night ex- 
amine thyself, what thou hast done, how thou hast behaved 
thyself in word, deed, and thought. a Kempis. 

" At evening to myself I say 

My soul, where hast thou gleaned to-day ? 

Thy labors how bestowed ? 

What hast thou rightly said or done ? 

What grace attained or knowledge won 

In following after God ? " 



OCTOBER. 



15. For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the 
inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you. — Beut. 
xii. 9. 

Let us beware that our rest become not the rest of 
stones, which so long as they are torrent-tossed and thun- 
der-stricken, maintain their majesty, but when the stream 
is silent and the storm past, suffer the grass to cover them, 
and the lichen to feed on them, and are ploughed down 
into dust. Ruskin. 
" Rest is not quitting the busy career, 
Rest is the fitting of self to one's sphere. 

" Tis the brook's motion, — clear, without strife, 
Fleeting to ocean after this life. 

" 'Tis living and serving the highest and best, 
'Tis onward, unswerving, — and this is true rest." 

16. Casting all your care upon Him ; for He careth for 
you. — 1 Peter v. 7 

How beautiful this world would be if we always saw God 
in it as our friend and father. If we saw immortal love in 
all things, how joyful would work become, how easy all 
our duty grow, how simplified the problems of life ! That 
would be the coming of the kingdom of God, the reign of 
the Prince of Peace. J. F. Clarke. 

I ask not, take away this weight of care ; 
No, for that love I pray that all can bear ; 
And for that faith that whatso'er befall, 
Must needs be good, and for my profit prove, 
Since from my Father's heart most rich in love, 
And from His bounteous hands it cometh all. 

Spitta. 



OCTOBER. 



J S9 



17. In everything by prayer and supplication with 
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 
— Phil. iv. 6. 

Answers to prayer are often long in coming, and the 
thing we ask, when it does come, comes often in another 
shape, and as often, something else comes instead of it. 
We must be careful not to fret ourselves over much about 
the answer to our prayers. We should pray in faith, and 
with a deep sense of our unworthiness, and leave the rest 
to God. F. W. Faber. 

" Not that my Father gives to me 

More blessings than in days gone by, 
Dropping in my uplifted hands 

All things for which I blindly cry, 
But spite of many broken dreams, 
This have I truly learned to say, 
Prayers which I thought unanswered once, 
Were answered in God's own best way." 

18. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful 
also in much. — Luke xvi. 10. 

" We dream of doing great things, when we have need 
only to be content with doing little things close at hand." 

Let us be content in work 
To do the thing we can ; and not presume 
To fret because it's little. 

E. B. Browning. 
True worth is in being, not seeming, 

In doing each day that goes by 
Some little good, — not in the dreaming 

Of great things to do by and by. 

Alice Cary. 



i6o 



OCTOBER. 



19. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which 
preach the gospel, should live of the gospel. — 1 Co?-, ix. 14. 

We should preach God's glory day by day, not by words 
only, often not by words at all, but by our conduct. If 
you wish your neighbors to see what God is like, let them 
see what He can make you like. Nothing is so infectious 
as example. Charles Kingsley. 

No stream from its source 

Flows seaward, how lonely soever its course, 

But what some land is gladdened. No star ever rose 

And set without influence somewhere. Who knows 

What earth needs from earth's lowest creature ? No life 

Can be pure in its purpose, and strong in its strife, 

And all life not be purer and stronger thereby. 



20. And work : for I am with you, saith the Lord of 
hosts. — Haggai ii. 4. 

Genuine work done, what thou workest faithfully, that is 
eternal ! Take courage then ; raise the arm ; strike home, 
and that right lustily ; the citadel of hope must yield to 
noble desire, thus seconded by noble effort. 



Owen Meredith. 



Carlyle. 



On ! let all the soul within you 
For the truth's sake go abroad : 

Strike ! let every nerve and sinew 
Tell on ages — tell for God. 



Coxe, 



Here eyes do regard you 
In eternity's stillness ; 
Here is all fullness, 
Ye brave, to reward you : 
Work, and despair not. 



Goethe. 



OCTOBER. 



161 



21. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
righteousness : for they shall be rilled. — Matt. v. 6. 

Nothing can really haunt us, except what we have the 
beginning of, the native capacity for, however hindered, in 
ourselves. The ideal life, the life of full completions, 
haunts us all. . . . We feel the thing we ought to be 
beating beneath the thing we are. Phillips Brooks. 

" Waiting for Spring ! The hearts of men are watching 
Each for some better, brighter, fairer thing ! 

Each ear a distant sound most sweet is catching, 
A herald of the beauty of his spring. 

" It must be so — the man, the soul, the nation, 
The mother by her child — we wait, we wait 

Dreaming out futures ; life is expectation, 
A grub, a root that holds our higher state." 

22. In thine hand it is to give strength unto all. 
— I Chron. xxix. 12. 

Things which never could have made a man happy, 
develop a power to make him strong. Strength and not 
happiness, or rather only that happiness which comes by 
strength, is the end of human living. 

Phillips Brooks. 
" Father, hear the prayer we offer : 

Not for ease that prayer shall be ; 
But for strength, that we may ever 

Live our lives courageously. 

" Be our strength in hours of weakness, 
In our wanderings, be our guide, 

Through endeavor, failure, danger, 
Father, be thou at our side." 



162 



OCTOBER. 



23. When he giveth quietness, who then can make 
trouble ? — Job. xxxiv. 29. 

True resignation is simply this : to have such a trust in 
God, that, for His sake we will bear evil, and bear it 
patiently, believing that He will make it work out good for 
us in the end. Evil can never become good ; but God can 
rule it, and make it serve us. M. J. Savage. 

I would be quiet, Lord, 

Nor tease, nor fret 
Not one small need of mine 
Wilt thou forget. 

What I most crave perchance 

Thou wilt withhold, 
As we from hands unmeet 

Keep pearls or gold. 

Yet choose thou for me, — Thou 

Who knowest best : 
This one short prayer of mine 

Holds all the rest. Julia C. R. Dorr. 

24. He that diligently seeketh good, procureth favor.— 
Prov. xi. 21. 

There is so much to be set right in the world, there are 
so many to be led, and helped and comforted, that we must 
continually come in contact with such in our daily life. 
Let us only take care that we do not miss our turn of ser- 
vice, and pass by those to whom we might have been sent 
on an errand, straight from God. — Rays of Sunlight. 
Love and be happy in thyself, and serve 
This mortal race, thy kin, so well that men 

May bless thee. Tennyson. 



OCTOBER. 



25. Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a 
cloud of witnesses. — Heb. xii. 1. 

We all talk of angels and saints ; did you never think 
that there is not a home, however homely, that has not in 
it the germ of angels and saints? yea, real saints and 
angels, as you shall believe them if God takes from you 
the outward form that oftentimes annoys, and distresses, 
and separates. N. A. Staples. 

Hand in hand with angels, 

In the busy street, 
By the winter hearth-fires, — 

Everywhere, — we meet, 
Though unfledged and songless, 

Birds of Paradise ; 
Heaven looks at us daily 

Out of human eyes. Lucy Larcom. 

26. The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men. — 
Dan. iv. 32. 

Divine Omnipotence removes distress, but it is also 
divine Omnipotence that inflicts it, and there must have 
been as good grounds for sending, as for mending it. We 
know that the same hand which dispenses our afflictions, 
furnishes also those medicinal agents which help to com- 
bat them. Tholuck. 

" Think not that from some foe the burden came, 
And all you owe to God is strength to bear it, 

The cross, the curb, are His, because the same 
Almighty power must will who could repair it. 

Seek, then, my child, thy Father's mind to know 

In what befalls thee, be it weal or woe." 



164 



OCTOBER. 



27. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the 
Lord looketh on the heart. — I Sam. xvi. 7. 

In the lack of all human recognition, surely the Lord 
knoweth them that are His. His great heart of love will 
go out to them, till He has done for them exceeding abun- 
dantly above all that they ask or think. 

S. F. Smiley. 

He, the Wise, the Everlasting, 

Giveth heed, 

Knows each need, 
As through the world I'm hasting. 
Shall my Father e'er forget me ? 

His the will 

I fulfil, 

My measure He hath set me. 

Zschokke. 

28. He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. — 1 
John ii. 7. 

There is the need that a man should sacrifice himself to 
himself, his lower self to his higher self, his passions to his 
principles. There is the need of sacrificing one's self for 
fellow-men. There is the highest need of all, the need of 
giving up our will to God's. Phillips Brooks. 

Leaning on Him make with reverent meekness, 

His own, thy will ; 
And with strength from Him shall thy utter weakness 

Life's task fulfil ; 
And that cloud itself which now before thee 

Lies dark in view, 
Shall with beams of light, from the inner glory 

Be stricken through. Whittier. 



OCTOBER. 



29. The water that I shall give him, shall be in him a 
well of water springing up into everlasting life. — John 
iv. 14. 

Wherever the water of life is received, it sinks and 
softens and hollows, until it reaches, far down, the springs 
of life there also, that come straight from the eternal hills, 
and thenceforth there is in that soul a well of water spring- 
ing up into everlasting life. George MacDonald. 
Happy, I thought, that which can draw its life 

Deep from the nether springs, 
Safe neath the pressure, tranquil neath the strife 

Of surface things : — 
Safe, — for the sources of the nether springs 

Up in the far hill lie ; 
Calm, — for their life its power and freshness brings 
Down from the sky. John Ker. 

30. They looked. . . and behold, the glory of the 
Lord appeared in the cloud. — Ex. xvi. 10. 

Get into the habit of looking for the silver lining of the 
cloud, and when you have found it, continue to look at it, 
rather than at the leaden gray in the middle. It will help 
you over many hard places. A. A. Willits. 

Each cloud has of silver a lining, 
Though we may not see its light. 
The sun has not ceased its shining, 
Though hidden awhile from our sight. 
Be faithful and active and earnest ; 
In idleness never sit down : 
The better the dark cross you carry, 
The brighter will sparkle your crown. 

Wm. Johnson. 



i66 



OCTOBER. 



31. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the 
temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. — Rev. 
iii. 12. 

O if the stone can only have some vision of the temple 
of which it is to lie a part forever, what patience must fill 
it as it feels the blows of the hammer, and knows that suc- 
cess for it is simply to let itself be wrought into what shape 
the Master wills. Phillips Brooks. 

" O blows that smite ! O hurts that pierce 

This shrinking heart of mine ! 
What are ye but the Master's tools 
Forming a work divine ? 



Sculptor of souls ! I lift to Thee 

Encumbered heart and hands ; 
Spare not the chisel, set me free 

However dear the bands. 
How blest if all these seeming ills 

Which draw my thoughts to Thee 
Should only prove that Thou will make 

An angel out of me " 



NOVEMBER. 



1. Now the God of peace . . . make you perfect 
in every good work. — Heb. xiii. 20, 21. 

" For every good deed of ours, the world will be better 
always. And perhaps no day does a man walk down a 
street cheerfully, and like a child of God, without some 
passengers being brightened by his face, and, unknowingly 
to himself, catching from its look a something of religion." 

Be sure no earnest work 

Of any honest creature, howbeit weak, 

Imperfect, ill-adapted, fails so much 

It is not gathered as a grain of sand 

To enlarge the sum of human action used 

For carrying out God's end. Browning. 

2. Who art thou that judgest another ? —James iv. 12. 

I find that it conduces to my mental health and happi- 
ness to find out all I can which is amiable and lovable in 
those I come in contact with, and to make the most of it. 
It may fall very short of what I was once wont to dream of, 
but it is better than nothing. It keeps the heart alive in its 
humanity, and till we shall be all spiritual, this is alike our 
duty and our interest. Moravian. 

" Judge not hastily of others ; 

But thine own salvation mind ; 
Nor be lynx-eyed to thy brother's, 
To thine own offences blind. 
God alone 
Discerns thine own 
And the hearts of all mankind. " 
167 



NOVEMBER. 



3. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters. — Isa. 
xxxii. 20. 

" Every act done in the great work of human progress 
will ever live. Every act which tends to the annihilation 
of error is a little rock started from the mountain-top, 
which gathers force on its way downward, and starts others 
at every bound." 

Each drop of blood that e'er through true heart ran 

With lofty message, ran for thee and me ; 
For God's law, since the starry song began 

Hath been, and still forevermore must be, 
That every deed which shall outlast Time's span 
Must goad the soul to be erect and free. 

Lowell. 

4. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. — 
John viii. 34. 

When a man begins to do wrong, he cannot answer for 
himself how far he may be carried on. He does not see 
beforehand, he cannot know where he will find himself 
after the sin is committed. One false step forces him to 
another, — one evil concession requires another. 

Dr. Newman. 

He who is indeed the Lord's 

Follows Him always and will shun 
In all his actions, thoughts and words, 

All sin, or an approach to one. 
Begin then first with little things, 

The smallest sin avoid and hate ; 
Obedience to love adds wings, 

And little faith will grow to great. 

S PITTA. 



NOVEMBER. 



169 



5. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and 
art acquainted with all my ways. — Ps. cxxxix. 3. 

The Infinite Goodness is not far off, but near us ; . . . 
the evening shade, the guarded sleep, the morning resur- 
rection, every bounty that falls from heaven, every bounty 
that springs from earth, every loving heart that blesses us, 
every sacred example that wins us, all these are the revela- 
tion, the manifested love of the One, all-holy, all-perfect, 
whom to know is life. Dr. Dewey. 

" When darkness gathers round my path, 

And all my song-birds cease to sing, 
I know it is not sent in wrath, — 

'Tis but the shadow of Thy wing. 
When dancing sunbeams round me shine, 

And joy and peacefulness embrace, 
I know the radiance is not mine, — 
Tis just the brightness of Thy face." 

6. Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall 
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. — Luke xi. 9. 

The best things in the divine life, as in the natural, will 
not come to us merely for the asking; true prayer is the 
whole strength of the whole man going out after his needs, 
and the real secret of getting what you want in heaven as 
on earth, lies in the fact that you give your whole heart to 
it, or you cannot adequately value it when you get it. 

R. Collyer. 
" Say what is prayer, when it is prayer indeed? 
The mighty utterance of a mighty need, 
The man is praying, who doth press with might 
Out of his darkness, into God's own light." 



170 



NOVEMBER. 



7. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his 
love is perfected in us. — 1. John iv. 12. 

The highest is not to despise the lowest, nor the lowest 
to envy the highest ; each must live in all and by all. So 
God has ordered that men, being in need of each other, 
should need to love each other, and bear each other's 
burdens. G. A. Sala. 

" One thought alone shall bring redress 
For that great heaviness ; 
That I have held each struggling soul 

As of one kin and blood ; 
That one sure link doth all control 

To one close brotherhood ; 
For who the race of men doth love, 
Loves also Him above." 

8. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that 
have no might he increaseth strength. — Isa. xi. 29. 

Be not wearied out by the labors thou hast undertaken 
for my sake, nor let tribulations cast thee down ever at all ; 
but let my promise strengthen and comfort thee under 
every circumstance. a Kempis. 

" Why should ye murmur and sigh and fret, 

And follow each bent and calling ? 
The violet patiently waits to be wet 

With the dews at the night-time falling ; 
And the robin knows that the spring will come 
Though the winds are around her wailing. 
God hath His plan 
For every man 
And His ways are never failing." 



NOVEMBER. 



171 



9. A patient man will bear for a time, and afterward 
joy shall spring up unto him. — Ecdes. I. 23. 

Let those who crave the outward show of success turn to 
the example of the Great Teacher. During his own life 
how small were the apparent results of his ministry. Who 
can estimate now the stupendous results which have fol- 
lowed directly from those three years. . . . Here 
surely is encouragement for men to work on, nothing 
doubting, sure that the same God rules now as then. 

Samuel A. Smith. 
" Courage and patience ! Is the Master sleeping ? 

Has he no plan, no purposes of love ? 
What though awhile His counsel He is keeping, 
It is maturing in the world above." 

10. I must work the work of him that sent me, while it 
is day : the night cometh, when no man can work. — John 
ix. 4. 

Just in proportion as a man becomes good, divine, 
Christ-like, he passes out of the region of theorizing, of 
system-building, and hireling service, into the region of 
beneficent activities. It is well to think well. It is divine 
to act well. Horace Mann. 

Abide not in the realm of dreams, 

O man, however fair it seems ; 

But with clear eyes the present scan, 

And hear the call of God and man. 

Think not in sleep to fold thy hands, 
Forgetful of thy Lord's commands : 
From duty's claims no life is free, — 
Behold, to-day hath need of thee! 

Charles Burleigh. 



172 



NOVEMBER. 



11. He is faithful that promised. — Heb. x. 23. 

God does not give grace until the hour of trial comes. 
But when it does come, the amount of grace and the na- 
ture of the special grace required is vouchsafed. Do not 
perplex thyself with what is needed for future emergencies ; 
to-morrow will bring its promised grace along with to-mor- 
row's trials. J. R. MacDuff. 

Still in our nights of deep distress 
The manna falls our hearts to bless. 
And famished, as we cry for bread, 
With heavenly food our lives are fed. 
And each day's need finds each day's store 
Enough. Dear Lord, what want we more ? 

Margaret E. Sangster. 

12. Love one another, as I have loved you. — John xv. 
12. 

The greatest gift of our Heavenly Father is love, and of 
all gifts it is the most common. This alone is universal, 
and the humblest soul, in spite of the lack of opportunity, 
may so live that by sheer strength of love alone it may cre- 
ate for itself a heaven full of the presence of God, who is 
the Almighty Love. 

Fill thy heart with ever-active love, — 

Love for the wicked, as in sin he lies, 
Love for thy brother here, thy God above ; 

Fear nothing ill ; 'twill vanish in its day ; 
Live for the good, taking the ill thou must. 

Toil with thy might, w T ith manly labor pray ; 
Living and loving, learn thy God to trust, 
And He will pour upon thy soul the blessings of 
the just. Theodore Parker. 



NOVEMBER. 



*73 



13. What I do thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt 
know hereafter. — John xiii. 7. 

Some day, He will tell you why He has tried you, and 
let you look back upon your life story and see the golden 
thread of His fatherly love and care shining over and 
around it all, not as it is now, winding in and out, and only 
seen by glimpses. F. R. Havergal. 

Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned, 
And sun and stars forevermore have set, 
The things which our weak judgment here has spurned, 
The things o'er which we grieved with lashes Wet, 
Will flash before us out of life's dark night, 
As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue ; 
And we shall see how all God's plans were right, 
And how what seemed reproof was love most true. 

M. R. Smith. 

14. It is good for me that I have been afflicted. — Ps. 
cxix. 71. 

Stars shine brightest in the darkest night ; grapes come 
not to the proof till they come to the press. . . Such 
is the condition of all God's children ; they are then most 
triumphant when most tested ; most glorious when most 
afflicted. Bogatsky. 
As violins in foreign lands, 

Broken and shattered o'er and o'er, 
When mended and in skilful hands 
Make sweeter music than before, 
So oft the heart by sorrow torn 

Gives forth a loftier, clearer song, 
Than that which greeted us at morn 
When it was new and brave and strong. 

Frances Gage. 



*74 



NOVEMBER. 



1 5. Thou didst well that it was in thine heart. — 1 Kings 
viii. 18. 

A mere feeling may fail you, but a helpful spirit never 
can. And if you say, " I am hedged about," . ..." I 
fain would help, but I cannot," your very longing is help. 
" They also serve who only stand and wait." 
Ah! let us hope that to our praise 

Good God not only reckons 
The moments when we tread His ways, 

But when the spirit beckons, — 
That some slight good is also wrought 

Beyond self-satisfaction, 
When we are simply good in thought, 

Howe'er we fail in action. Lowell. 

16. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. — Matt. 
vi. 34- 

You have a disagreeable duty to do at twelve o'clock. 
Do not blacken nine and ten and all between with the 
color of twelve. Do the work of each, and reap your 
reward in peace. So when the dreaded moment in the 
future becomes the present you shall meet it walking in the 
light, and that light shall overcome its darkness. 

George MacDoxald. 

Because in a day of my days to come 

There awaiteth a grief to be, 
Shall my heart grow faint, and my lips be dumb, 

In this day that is bright for me ? 

Nay, shadows across my sun may fall, 

But as bright the sun shall shine ; 
For I walk in a light that cannot pall, 

The light of the King divine. M. E. Saxgster. 



NOVEMBER. 



17. Serve the Lord with gladness. — Ps. c. 2. 

" Look upon the bright side of all things. Believe that 
the best offering you can make to God is to enjoy to the 
full what He sends of good, and bear what He allows of 
evil, like a child who believes in all its father's dealings 
with it, whether it understands them or not." 

Take Joy home, 
And make a place in thy great heart for her 
And give her time to grow, and cherish her. 
Then will she come, and oft will sing to thee 
When thou art working in the furrows ; aye, 
Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn. 
It is a comely fashion to be glad ; 
Joy is in the grace we say to God. 

Jean Ingelow. 

18. Obey my voice ... so shall ye be my people, 
and I will be your God. — Jer. xi. 4. 

Right doing is the divine road to that knowledge where- 
in we find our peace and joy. " Thinking " is of service ; 
but " obedience " only leads to the knowing in which eter- 
nal life is found. . . . 

Then feel after God in the way of obedience, and you 
will find him ere long ; for he is not far away. The experi- 
ence of life will furnish an answer to your many question- 
ings, and right doing will banish all your doubts. 

Richard Metcalf. 

" We slumber while the present calls, 

But darkness grows with rest ; 
Wouldst thou see truth ? To action wake. 

Do the divine behest." 



176 



NOVEMBER. 



19. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all 
thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. — Luke x. 27. 

The precepts of Jesus are the essential element of his 
religion. Regard these as your rule of life, and you build 
your house upon a rock. Live them out indeed, and you 
have entered the Kingdom of Heaven — you even now 
enter it. W. E. Channing. 

Then courage take, faint heart, and though the path be 
long, 

God's simple rule thy steps will safely guide, — 

" Love Him, thy neighbor as thyself, and do no wrong ; " 

In calm content they all shall surely bide, 

Who walk with Him. 

S. D. Seabury. 

20. Give us this day our daily bread. — Matt. vi. 11. 

" In all our difficulties, perplexities, trials, it will help us 
to remember that we have to take but one step at a time. 
Let us ask God to help us take that one step bravely and 
unfalteringly. To-morrow's strength is very largely the 
heritage of to-day's patient striving." 

" Let me both diligently work, 

And duly pray, 
Let me be kind in word and deed, 

Just for to-day. 

" For to-morrow and its needs 

I do not pray, — 
But keep me, guide me, love me, Lord, 

Just for to-day." 



NOVEMBER. 



177 



21. With loving-kindness have I drawn thee— Jer. 
xxxi. 3. 

Recognize the ruling hand of God. Recognize the rule 
of God in all thy unfulfilled wishes ; recognize it in all thy 
hopes fulfilled. In regard to both, love has been active for 
good. Zschokke. 
Take courage to entrust your love 
To Him so named, who guards above 

Its ends and shall fulfil ! 
Breaking the narrow prayers that may 
Befit your narrow hearts, away 
In His broad, loving will. 

E. B. Browning. 

22. Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from 
tears : for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord. — 
Jer. xxxi. 16. 

" Let us wipe our tears, lift up our heads, and gird our- 
selves for brave and cheerful toil. In due time the release 
will come; rest so sweet after the toil is over; glory so 
bright after the darkness is past, victory so grand that we 
shall not wish the conflicts to have been less fierce, or the 
perils of the way less numerous or painful." 
Who is the angel that cometh ? 
Pain ! 

Let us arise and go forth to greet him. 

Not in vain 
Is the summons come for us to meet him. 
Let us say still, while his bitter chalice 
Slowly into our heart is poured — 
Blessed is he that cometh 
In the name of the Lord. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 



i 7 8 



NOVEMBER. 



23. Forgetting those things which are behind, and 
reaching forth unto those things which are before. — Phil. 
iii. 13. 

When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. 
Take the reason of the thing into your own mind, and 
then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. . . . 
The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your 
power. Hugh White. 

" How speaks the present hour ? Act ! 

Walk, upward glancing. 
So shall thy footsteps in glory be tracked, 

Slow, but advancing. 
Scorn not the smallness of daily endeavor, 
Let the great meaning ennoble it ever, 
Droop not o'er efforts expended in vain. 
Work, as believing that labor is gain." 

24. Look not every man on his own things, but every 
man also on the things of others. — Phil. ii. 4. 

To watch one's soul all the time seeking for moral dis- 
ease, is as bad as to search one's body all the time, seeking 
for physical disease. Do not look within to see whether 
your feelings are right ; but look without, to see what you 
are doing for others ; what you are saying ; what your 
temper and spirits are to those about you. Look up, also, 
for higher light and more life. 

J. F. Clarke. 

To look up and not down ; 
To look forward and not back ; 
To look out and not in ; 
And 

To lend a hand. E. E. Hale. 



NOVEMBER. 



179 



25. I have planted, Apollos watered ; but God gave the 
increase. — 1 Cor. iii. 6. 

The good we can each of us accomplish in this world is 
small. The good that all men in all ages could accomplish 
if they would, is vast. But in order that this may be done, 
each working being must serve his own generation, and do 
his part to render the next generation more efficient. 

T. D. Woolsey. 
Though few may praise, or help, or heed us, 

Let us work on, with head, or heart, or hand ; 
For that we know the future ages need us, 
And we must help our time to take its stand. 

R. A. Vaughan. 

26. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, 
and shut thy doors about thee. — Isa. xxvi. 20. 

Stated seasons of quiet and retirement are demanded 
for the nurturing of the spiritual nature. . . It is in such 
moments that we are able to realize the littleness of the 
frets and annoyances of the way, while it is at such 
seasons also that we rise with fresh incentives for holy 
duty, and resolutions for a nobler life. 

J. R. MacDuff. 

The quiet of a shadow-haunted pool 

Where light breaks through in glorious tenderness, 
Where the hushed pilgrim in the shadow cool, 

Forgets the way's distress, — 

Such is this hour, this silent hour with Thee ! 

The trouble of the restless heart is still ; 
And every swaying wish breathes reverently 

The whispers of Thy will. Lucy Larcom. 



i8o 



NOVEMBER. 



27. For we know that if our earthly house of this taber- 
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house 
not built with hands, eternal in the heavens. — 2 Cor. v. 1. 

God is our Father. Heaven is His high throne, and 
this earth is His footstool. While we sit around or medi- 
tate, or pray, one by one, as we fall asleep, He lifts us into 
His bosom, and our waking is inside the gates of an ever- 
lasting world. Wm. Mountford. 

We see but dimly through the mists and vapors ; 

Amid these earthly damps 
W^hat seem to us but sad funereal tapers, 

May be heaven's distant lamps. 

There is no death ! What seems so is transition ; 

This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life elysian 

Whose portal we call death. Longfellow. 

28. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. — Rev 
iii. 19. 

No one ever sounded the heights and depths of life 
and drew from it the teaching and blessing which it is 
capable of giving, without enduring suffering, sharp and 
real, as a part of it. The year is not all composed of sum- 
mer days, it has its long expanses of winter cold and 
gloom. George McDonald. 

" We pray for growth and strength ; grief's dreaded showers 
May be in God's wide purpose, ripening rain : 
He only knows how all our highest powers 
Are perfected in pain." 



NOVEMBER. 



181 



29. They shall not labour in vain. — Isa. lxv. 23. 

" "Work on ! and working right manfully, you will find 
that day by day, you are working out your own salvation 
from every morbid doubt and fear. Live on, the very best 
and fullest life that you can ; live cheerfully if you can, 
but manfully always ; and he that endureth to the end shall 
be saved." _ 
What though the hour of promise long delay 
To crown our patience with occasion fair ? 
No less the soul through every lingering day 
Should keep for opportunity a chair. 

Still must we sow like tillers of the earth, 

Still hope for good proportioned to our needs, 

Still work with action all the days of dearth, 
And if the rain come, it will find our seeds. 

George M. Coomer. 

30. And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth 
them out. — John x. 3. 

He is our shepherd, going before us and never behind ; 
calling, but never driving, bearing all the losses he calls us 
to bear ; meeting all the dangers, suffering all the cruelties 
and pains which it is given us to suffer, and drawing us to 
follow where he leads. Horace Bushnell. 

" He goes before ! A shield against the storm, 
A shadow in the noonday, light at night ; 

In danger's hour, there is the Shepherd's form 
But just beyond; though fears may dim our sight, 

Oh earthly flock, fear not forevermore ! 

Where'er we walk, our Shepherd goes before." 



DECEMBER. 



1. I give myself unto prayer. — Ps. cix. 4. 

Men need to turn their thoughts to God ; it is a neces- 
sity of their nature to commune, and to occupy themselves 
with the Highest Being; they cannot be happy without 
feeling in their hearts confiding trust in the wise and kind 
providence of an Infinite Father. Zschokke. 
When prayer delights thee least, then learn to say, 
Soul, now is greatest need that thou shouldst pray. 
Crooked and warped I am and I would fain 
Straighten myself by Thy right line again. 

2. For so he giveth his beloved sleep. — Ps. cxxvii. 2. 
It is a great thing that we are permitted to take that 

almost dearest word in our tongue — sleep — and give it to 
death, — sleep that ends our cares and relieves us from toil, 
that keeps soul and body quiet while God fills again the 
exhausted lamp of life. It is no small or unmeaning thing 
that Christ taught us to apply this word to that seeming 
loss and horror hitherto called death. 

Theodore Hunger. 

Sleep is a death ; O make me try 

By sleeping, what it is to die: 

And as gently lay my head 

On my grave as now my bed. 

Howe'er I rest, great God, let me 

Awake again at last with Thee. 

And thus assured, behold I lie 

Securely, or to wake, or die. 

Sir Thomas Browne. 

182 



DECEMBER. 



183 



3. Be strong in the Lord. — Eph. vi. 10. 

Christ has lived, and he asks living followers. He has 
died, a sacrifice, and he asks the spirit of self-sacrifice in 
you. F. D. Huntington. 

They are slaves who fear to speak 

For the fallen and the weak ; 

They are slaves who will not choose 

Hatred, scoffing and abuse, 

Rather than in silence shrink 

From the truth they needs must think. 

They are slaves who dare not be 

In the right with two or three. Lowell. 

4. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory. — 2. Cor. iv. 17. 

I beg you, my dear friend, whatever be your suffering, to 
learn first of all that not to take your sorrow off is what 
God means, but to put strength into you that you may 
carry it. Be sure your sorrow is not giving you its best, 
unless it makes you a more thoughtful person -than you 
have ever been before. Phillips Brooks. 

Do not cheat thy heart, and tell her 

" Grief will pass away — 
Hope for fairer times in future, 

And forget to-day." 
Tell her if you will, that sorrow 

Need not come in vain — 
Tell her, that the lesson taught her 
Far outweighs the pain. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 



184 



DECEMBER. 



5. Tribulation worketh patience ; and patience experi- 
ence ; and experience hope. — Rom. v. 3, 4. 

All the past is shut up within us, and is a sort of per- 
petual present. All the future is before us, and though 
duty is a present thing, it is constructed out of the past,- 
and runs endlessly into the future. We thus have the past 
with its memories, the present with its duties, and the 
future with its anticipations — one for wisdom, one for 
action, and one for hope. Theodore Munger. 

Help me to look behind, before. 

To make my past and future form 
A bow of promise, meeting o'er 
The darkness of my day of storm. 

Phcebe Cary. 

6. He that hath gathered little hath no lack. — 2. Cor, 
viii. 15. 

The only way to regenerate the world is to do the duty 
which lies nearest to us, and not to hunt after grand, far- 
fetched ones for ourselves. Charles Kingsley. 
" Do it immediately, 

Do it with prayer, 
Do it reliantly, 

Casting off care ; 
Do it with reverence, 

Tracing his hand 
Who hath placed it before thee 

With earnest command. 
Stayed in omnipotence 

Safe 'neath his wing, 
Leave all resultings — 

' Doe ye nexte thynge.' " 



DECEMBER. 



7. Freely ye have received ; freely give. — Matt. x. 8. 
Begin with a generous heart. Think how you can serve 

others. Then you shall find resources grow. Your own 
portion shall not be left desolate. Strength shall be shed 
through you. Do the utmost with what you have, and it 
shall go far enough. O. B. Frothingham. 

" The heart grows rich in giving ; all its wealth is living 
grain ; 

Seeds which mildew in the garner, — scattered, fill with 
gold the plain. 

Is thy burden hard and heavy ? Do thy steps drag wearily ? 
Help to bear thy brother's burden. God will bear both it 
and thee." 

8. Now therefore, perform the doing of it ; that as there 
was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance 
also out of that which ye have. — 2. Cor. viii. 11, 

It is always the danger of our confidence in God's provi- 
dence, that we shall come to think it will be satisfied with 
our improvidence. Only as we make the best of what we 
have, and so become the best we can be, shall we win the 
great " well done." Robert Collyer. 

Shall we say " Thy will be done ! " 

And on our own errands run ? 

Vain and evil the design 

We pursue, apart from Thine. 

Teach us how to live this prayer ; 
Reverently Thy plans to share. 
More than echoes of Thy voice, — 
Make us partners in Thy choice. 

Lucy Larcom. 



i86 



DECEMBER. 



9. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion 
one of another ; love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. 

— 1 Peter iii. 8. 

The highest relation of man to man is that of compas- 
sion. God forbid that any of us should pass through suf- 
fering and come out of it not only unchastened, but with no 
tenderer feeling for the whole suffering humanity. It 
should be the first question with one who in any way suf- 
fers, To what service of ministering pity am I called ? 

Theodore Munger. 

If thou art blest 
Then let the sunshine of thy gladness rest 
On the dark edges of each cloud that lies 

Black in thy brother's skies. 

If thou art sad, 
Still be thou in thy brother's gladness, glad. 

A. E. Hamilton. 

10. I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. 

— Matt. xi. 25. 

Cultivate the thankful spirit ! it will be to thee a perpetual 
feast. There is, or ought to be, with us no such thing as 
small mercies ; all are great, because the least are unde- 
served. Indeed a really thankful heart will extract motive 
for gratitude from everything, making the most even of 
scanty blessings. J. R. MacDuff. 

"O King of kings, before whose throne 

The angels bow, no gift can we 
Present that is indeed our own, 

Since heaven and earth belong to Thee : 
Yet this our souls through grace impart, 
The offering of a thankful heart." 



DECEMBER. 



11. And we have known and believed the love that God 
hath to us. — John iv. 16. 

Enough to know that God is good, and what He does is 
right. . . . This known, and then we know that the 
love of God is working to issues good and glorious. All 
is good, all is well, is right, and all shall be forever. 

Dr. Dewey. 

I see the wrong that round me lies, 

I feel the guilt within ; 
I hear with groan and travail cries 

The world confess its sin. 

Yet, in the maddening maze of things 

And tossed by storm and flood, 
To one fixed stake my spirit clings ; . 

I know that God is good. Whittier. 

12. Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother, to 
thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. — Deutxv. n. 

There cannot be a more glorious object in creation, than 
a human being, replete with benevolence, meditating in 
what manner he might render himself most acceptable 
to his Creator, by doing most good to His creatures. 

Fielding. 

Doing good is the only certainly happy action of a man's 
life. Sir Philip Sidney. 

Living, thou dost not live, 

If mercy's spring run dry ; 
What Heaven has lent thee wilt thou freely give, 
Dying, thou shalt not die. O. W. Holmes. 



i88 



DECEMBER. 



13. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be 
also glorified together. — Rom. viii. 17. 

There is full compensation for failure in every true life, 
and the highest, where the struggle and the loss have been 
the deepest. John Ker. 

" Count not loss the hopes that fall 

Like leaves in autumn, one by one, 
Xor dream the light is vanished all, 
As the dark, dreary night wears on. 

" You shall know at last that loss was gain, 
That through your weary, toilsome way, 

As you saw the stars in your life-sky wane, 
The night was leading to heavenly day." 

14. We will obey the voice of the Lord our God, that 
it may be well with us. — Jer. xlii. 6. 

Obedience to God is a wonderful tranquilizer. Rest to 
a true Christian is simply the unhindered permission to do 
His perfect will. . . . Peace is not dull stagnation ; it 
is the deep, strong current of a soul flowing in harmony 
with God. T. L. Cuyler. 

God's will is like a cliff of stone; 

My will is like the sea ; 
Each murmuring thought is only thrown 
Tenderly back to me. 

God's will and mine are one this da}-, 

And evermore shall be. 
There is a calm in life's tossed bay, 

And the waves sleep quietly. 

Paul Pastnor. 



DECEMBER. 



15. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered 
me from all my fears. — Ps. xxxiv. 4. 

Let us trust in His providence ; let us believe that the 
events of life, its trials and disasters, its varied experi- 
ences, come, not blindly nor by accident, but are sent to 
give the right temper to our moral and spiritual nature, to 
fit us for the work we have to do in time and eternity. 

J. F. Clarke. 
Know well, my soul, God's hand controls 

Whate'er thou fearest ; 
Round Him in calmest music rolls 

Whate'er thou hearest. 
What to thee is shadow, to Him is day, 

And the end He knoweth, 
And not on a blind and aimless way 
The spirit goeth. 

J. G. Whittier. 

16. Fear God, and keep his commandments : for this is 
the whole duty of man. — Ecc. xii. 13. 

Ask God to show you your duty, and then do that duty 
well, and from that point you mount to the very peak of 
vision. E. E. Hale. 

W T oulds't behold beauty 
Near thee, all around ? 
Only hath duty 
J Such a sight found. DwiGHT. 
So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man, 
When Duty whispers low, " Thou must," 
The youth replies, " I can." Emerson- 



190 



DECEMBER. 



17. I will praise the name of God with a song. — Ps. 
lxix. 30. 

Be thou like the bird perched upon some frail thing ; al- 
though he feels the branch bending beneath him, yet loudly 
sings, knowing full well that he has wings. 

Mad. de Gasparin. 

My little song of praise 

In sweet content I sing ; 
To Thee the note I raise, 

My King ! My King ! 

I cannot tell the art 

By which such bliss was given : 

I know Thou hast my heart, 

And I — have heaven. H. M. B. 

18. Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is 
stayed on thee. — Isa. xxvi. 3. 

" To see the hand of God in the present, and to trust 
the future in the hand of God, is the secret of peace. " 

Why shouldst thou fill to-day with sorrow 
About to-morrow, 

My heart ? 
One watches all with care most true, 
Doubt not that He will give thee, too 

Thy part. 

Only be steadfast ; never waver 
Nor seek earth's favor 
But rest : 

Thou know'st that what God wills must be 
For all His creatures, so for thee, 

The best. Paul Fleming. 



DECEMBER. 



I 9 I 



19. Behold the fowls of the air. — Matt, vi. 26. 

You are as much the object of God's solicitude as if 
none lived but yourself. He has counted the hairs of your 
head. . . He has numbered your sighs and your smiles. 
He has interpreted the desires for which you have not 
found a name nor an utterance for yourself. 

F. W. Robertson. 

" Consider 
The sparrows of the air of small account ; 

Our Lord doth view 
Whether they fall or mount — 

He guards us too. 

Consider 

The lilies that do neither spin not toil, 

Yet are most fair. 
What profits all this toil 

And all 'this care ? " 

20. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy 
throne. — Ps. lxxxix. 14. 

God rules ! therefore that which is hidden will at last 
come to light, crime will be unmasked, and all evil will 
meet with its deserts. Therefore only that which is good 
in itself, and just and true, will eventually conquer and 
prevail. Zschokke. 

For right is right, since God is God ; 

And right the day must win ; 
To doubt would be disloyalty, 

To falter would be sin. F. W. Faber. 



192 



DECEMBER. 



21. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send 
unto you from the Father, ... he shall testify of me. 
And ye also shall bear witness. — John xv. 26, 27. 

When death strikes down the innocent and young, for 
every fragile form from which he sets the panting spirit 
free, a hundred virtues rise, in shapes of mercy, charity 
and love, to walk the world and bless it. Dickens. 

" Death hath made no breach 
In love and sympathy, in hope and trust ; 
No outward sign or sound our ears can reach ; 
But there's an inward, spiritual speech 
That greets us still, though mortal tongues be dust. 

" It bids us do the work that they laid down — 
Take up the song where they broke off the strain ; 
So journeying till we reach the heavenly town, 
Where are laid up our treasures and our crown 
And our lost loved ones will be found again." 

22. The Lord make you to increase and abound in love 
one toward another, and toward all men. — 1 Thess. iii. 12. 

Self-denial, for the sake of self-denial, does no good; 
self-sacrifice for its own sake is no religious act at all. . 

. . Self-sacrifice, illuminated by love, is warmth and 
life ; the blessedness and only proper life of man. 

F. W. Robertson. 
Teach us to love and give like Thee ! 
Not narrowly men's claims to measure, 
But daily question all our powers, 
To whose cup can we add a pleasure ? 
Whose path can we make bright with flowers ? 

Whittier. 



DECEMBER. 



!93 



23. Our sufficiency is of God. — 2 Cor. iii. 5. 

If thou look to thyself, thou shalt be able of thyself to 
accomplish nothing. But if thou trust in the Lord, 
strength shall be given thee from Heaven, and the world 
and the flesh shall be made subject to thy command. 

Thomas a'Kempis. 

• 

We tell Thee of our care, 

Of the sore burden, pressing day by day, 
And in the light and pity of Thy face, 

The burden melts away. 

We breathe our secret wish, 

The importunate longing which no man may see ; 
We ask it humbly, or, more restful still, 

We leave it all to Thee. Susan Coolidge. 

24. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for 
that which endureth unto everlasting life. — John vi. 27. 

All essential interests centre ultimately in the soul, all 
that do not centre there belong to things that perish. . . . 
What can man bear about with him that shall beget such 
reverence as the soul he bears with him ? 

Dr. Dewey. 

Thus sweetly live, thus greatly watch ! 

Soul, be but inly bright, — 
All outer things must smile, must catch 

The strong, transcendent light. 

Near thee no darkness dares abide, 

Thou makest all things shine ; 
Soul, whom the Lord has glorified, 

Is not all glory thine ? T. H. Gill. 



194 



DECEMBER. 



25. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good will toward men. — Luke ii. 14. 

I will honor Christmas in my heart. I will live in the 
Past, the Present and the Future. The spirits of all three 
shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons 
which they teach. Dickens. 
Then pealed the bells, more loud and deep, 
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep ! 
The wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, 
With " peace on earth, good-will to men ! " 

Longfellow. 
The star that shone in Bethlehem 
Shines still, and shall not cease ; 
And we listen still for the tidings 
Of Glory and of Peace. 

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER. 

26. Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. — 
I. Cor. x. 31. 

Find your niche, and fill it. If it be ever so little, if it 
is only to be a hewer of wood and drawer of water, do 
something in this great battle for God and truth. 

Spurgeon. 

All may of Thee partake ; 

Nothing so small can be, 
But draws, when acted for Thy sake, 

Greatness and worth from Thee. 

If done beneath Thy laws, 

E'en servile labors shine ; 
Hallowed is toil, if this the cause, 

The meanest work, divine. 

George Herbert. 



DECEMBER. 



*95 



27. Now I know in part ; but then I shall know even 
as also I am known. — 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 

Our present difficulties and hard questions will soon be 
solved and passed by. Even the world itself, so difficult 
to penetrate, will become a transparency to us, through 
which God's light will pour as the sun through the open 
sky. H. Bushnell. 

" Thou knowest not now, for here we see but darkly 

The outlines of His Grace ; 
The rest is learnt in Heaven's eternal glory, 
And face to face. 

" Then thou shalt know ; that passionless ' hereafter ' 

Shall solve all mystery ; 
Dream not that life can hold the tide of wonder 

In store for thee." 

28. For now we see through a glass darkly ; but then 
face to face. — 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 

" God often brings our own plans to naught, in order to 
deliver us from harm and danger, and very often, what we 
look upon as our great misfortune, is really the means of 
greater good." 

I think if thou couldst know, 
O soul that will complain, 
What lies concealed below 

Our burden and our pain ; 
How just our anguish brings 

Nearer those longed-for things 
We seek for now in vain. — 
I think thou wouldst rejoice and not complain. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 



196 



DECEMBER. 



29. For who hath despised the day of small things ? ■— > 
Zech. iv. 10. 

" Do the best you can where you are, and when that is 
accomplished, God will open a door for you, and a voice 
will call, ' Come up hither into a higher sphere.' " 
O small beginnings, ye are great and strong, 

Based on a faithful heart, and weariless brain ! 
Ye build the future fair, ye conquer wrong, 
Ye earn the crown and wear it not in vain. 

Lowell. 

30. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, fo> 
when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life. 
— James i. 12. 

She began the cross, but when she had nearly finished 
it, it occurred to her that there could not be a better founda- 
tion for a crown. Nothing was needed but to add a base 
and two wing-like curves. And she smiled at all there 
was suggested in the idea of the cross in the crown-part of 
its very structure. Yet when it was finished, scarcely any- 
body would notice that there was a cross there. 

Edward Garrett. 

They fashion in crosses their crowns, 

Unconscious of labor so grand ; 
And while through their tears they look down 

On burdens of heart and of hand, 
It comes to their thought, while they weep, 

That the rude cross, girded with wings, 
Can no more its old semblance keep, 

And lo ! to crown-likeness it springs. 

W. C. Richards. 



DECEMBER. 



197 



31. Eo, I am with you alway. — Matt, xxviii. 20. 
We turn and look upon the valley of the past year. 
There below, are the spots stained by our evil and our 
fear. But as we look, a glow of sunlight breaks upon the 
past, and in the sunshine is a soft rain falling from heaven. 
It washes away the stain, and from the purity of the upper 
sky a voice seems to descend and enter our sobered hearts : 
" My child, go forward, abiding in faith, hope and love, for 
" lo, I am with you alway.' " Sto'pford Brooke. 
For looking backward through the year 
Along the way my feet have pressed, 
I see sweet places everywhere, 

Sweet places where my soul had rest. 
My sorrows have not been so light, 

The chastening hand I could not trace, 
Nor have my blessings been so great 
That they have hid my Father's face. 

PHCEBE C A.RY, 




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